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Professional Criminals of America. 




Negative by Andtrson, N. Y. 



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^Ut^» 




PROFESSIONAL 



CRIMINALS OF AMERICA 



BY 



THOMAS BYRNES 

INSPECTOR OF POLICE AND CHIEF OF DETECTIVES 

NEW YORK CITY 



'PRO BONO PUBLICO' 



CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited 

739 & 741 BROADWAY. NEW YORK 



Copyright, 1886, 
By THOMAS BYRNES. 

All rights reserved. 



PRESS OF HUNTER & BEACH, 
NEW YORK. 





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INTRODUCTION. 



THE volume entitled "Professional Criminals of America," now submitted to the 
public, is not a work of fiction, but a history of the criminal classes. The writer 
has confined himself to facts, collected by systematic investigation and verified by 
patient research, during a continuous, active and honorable service of nearly a quarter 
of a century in the Police Department of the City of New York. Necessarily, during 
this long period, Inspector Thomas Byrnes has been brought into official relations with 
professional thieves of all grades, and has had a most favorable field for investigating 
the antecedents, history and achievements of the many dangerous criminals continually 
preying upon the community. These opportunities have been improved to their 
utmost extent, and the result has been the accumulation of a vast store of useful 
knowledge, such as has never before been gathered by any other public officer or 
private individual. 

The book is complete, and, in my opinion, trustworthy in all its details, and in 
these points consists its great value and desirability. It contains over two hundred 
photographs of important and dangerous criminals, thus forming a public Rogues' 
Gallery. In addition, among its pages will be found the methods and records of 
several hundred Burglars, Bank Thieves, Forgers, Swindlers, and law-breakers of every 
description. The book also contains valuable criminal information relative to a large 
number of bank burglaries, notable forgeries and mysterious murders, all of which 
have been collected from the best possible sources, together with the Prison Commu- 
tation Laws and other interesting matter. It is not claimed that there will be found 
in these pages an account of each particular arrest of those whose records are given. 
This would be impossible, for a professional thief, in a locality where he is a stranger, 
uses every means in his power to conceal his identity, and in many instances celebrated 
robbers have been convicted and sentenced under fictitious names. 

My experience as a judge in the principal criminal court of the city and county 
of New York, has assured me of the great value of the contents of this volume, 
and my knowledge of the writer permits me to cheerfully endorse the trustworthiness 
of the information with which his book is replete. In my estimation the circulation of 
the volume will tend to familiarize the public with the faces, appearance and methods 
of the army of malefactors who, with keen eyes and active brains, are forever watching 
and planning to their detriment. 

The author has spread his vast knowledge of the criminal classes in a simple, 
straightforward narrative of facts, and the book supplies a want long felt in the 
community. There cannot be the slightest doubt but that it will prove an important 
medium in the prevention and detection of crime, and I therefore cheerfully give it my 
fullest endorsement and recommendation. 

FREDERICK SMYTH, 

Recorder. 



PREFACE 



A S crimes against property are of so frequent occurrence in the cities and towns of 
^ this country, it was suggested to my mind that the publication of a book describing 
thieves and their various ways of operating would be a great preventive against further 
depredations. Aware of the fact that there is nothing that professional criminals fear so 
much as identification and exposure, it is my belief that if men and women who make a 
practice of preying upon society were known to others besides detectives and frequenters 
of the courts, a check, if not a complete stop, would be put to their exploits. While 
the photographs of burglars, forgers, sneak thieves, and robbers of lesser degree are 
kept in police albums, many offenders are still able to operate successfully. But with 
their likenesses within reach of all, their vocation would soon become risky and 
unprofitable. 

Experience has shown me, during the twenty-three years of my connection with 
the Police Department of the City of New York, and especially the period in which 
I have been in command of the Detective Bureau, that bankers, brokers, commercial 
and business men, and the public, were strangely ignorant concerning the many and 
ingenious methods resorted to by rogues in quest of plunder. 

With the view of thwarting thieves, I have, therefore, taken this means of circulating 
their pictures, together with accurate descriptions of them, and interesting information 
regarding their crimes and methods, gathered from the most reliable sources. Many 
mysterious thefts are truthfully explained, and the names of the persons credited with 
committing them are revealed ; but as information merely, without corroborative proof, 
is not evidence, it would be valueless in a legal prosecution. In the following pages 
will be found a vast collection of facts illustrative of the doings of celebrated robbers, 
and pains have been taken to secure, regardless of expense, excellent reproductions 
of their photographs, so that the law-breakers can be recognized at a glance. By 
consulting this book prosecuting officers and other officials will be able to save much 
time and expense in the identification of criminals who may fall into their hands. 
In the compilation of this work, information obtained from newspapers and police 
officials of other cities was of great assistance to me, but all the matter and data were 
verified before being used. 

Hoping that this volume will serve as a medium in the prevention and detection 
of crime, I remain, respectfully, 

THOMAS BYRNES. 

New York, September, 1886. 



CONTENTS. 



Methods of Professional Criminals of America : ^^*^^ 

Bank Burglars, ........ i 

Bank Sneak Thieves, ....... 7 

Forgers, . . . . . . . . ,12 

Hotel and Boarding-House Thieves, . . . . -19 

Sneak and House Thieves, ..... ,22 

Store and Safe Burglars, . . , , . . .26 

Shoplifters and Pickpockets, ...... 30 

Confidence and Banco Men, . . . . , .40 

Recelvers of Stolen Goods, ...... 44 

Tricks of Sawdust Men, . , . . . . -47 

Frauds in Horse Sales, ....... 50 

Why Thieves are Photographed, ... . . . -52 

Descriptions and Records of Professional Criminals, . . . 57 

Several Notable Forgers, ...... 285 

International Forgers — Secret History of the Wilkes, Hamilton, Becker 

AND Engles Gang of Forgers — Their Chief's Confession, . . 295 

Other Noted Criminals, ....... 308 

Bank Robberies, ........ 337 

Miscellaneous Robberies, ....... 339 

Mysterious Murders, ........ 341 

Executions in the Tombs Prison, New York City, from 185 i to 1886, 368 

Adventurers and Adventuresses, . . . . . .374 

Opium Habit and Its Consequences, ..... 381 



CONTENTS. 



Prison Commutation Laws: ^^^^ 

Expiration of Sentence, ...... 389 

New York State, ....... . 389 

Tables of Commutation on Sentences for Good Behavior, New York 

State, ......... 394 

Fugitives from Justice, ..... 397 



Arkansas, 
California, 
Colorado, 
Connecticut, 



Illinois, 

Indiana, , . 

Kentucky . . 

Louisiana, . , 

Maine, 

Maryland, 

Massachusetts, 

Michigan, 

Minnesota, 

New Hampshire, 

New Jersey, 

North Carolina, 

Ohio, 

Pennsylvania, 

Rhode Island, . 

Tennessee, 

Virginia, 

Canada Commutation Law, ...... 

List of State Prisons, Penitentiaries, and Reformatories in the States 

AND Territories, . , . . . . _ .411 

Addenda, ......... 413 

Index, .......... 415 



399 

399 
400 

400 
400 
401 
401 
402 
402 
403 
403 
403 
404 

405 
405 
406 
406 
406 
408 
408 
408 
409 
409 



METHODS 



OF 



Professional Criminals of America. 



BANK BURGLARS. 



THE ways of making a livelihood by crime are many, and the number of men and 
women who live by their wits in all large cities reaches into the thousands. Some 
of the criminals are really very clever in their own peculiar line, and are constantly 
turning their thieving qualities to the utmost pecuniary account. Robbery is now 
classed as a profession, and in the place of the awkward and hang-dog looking thief we 
have to-day the intelligent and thoughtful rogue. There seems to be a strange 
fascination about crime that draws men of brains, and with their eyes wide open, into 
its meshes. Many people, and especially those whose knowledge of criminal life is 
purely theoretical, or derived from novels, imagine that persons entering criminal 
pursuits are governed by what they have been previously, and that a criminal pursuit 
once adopted is, as a rule, adhered to ; or, in other words, a man once a pickpocket is 
always a pickpocket ; or another, once a burglar is always a burglar. Hardly any 
supposition could be more erroneous. Primarily there are, of course, predisposing 
influences which have a certain effect in governing choice. 

A man of education, refined habits, and possibly a minimum of courage, would not 
be likely to adopt the criminal walks requiring brute force and nerve. Such a one 
would be far more likely to become a forger or counterfeiter than a highway robber. 
Still, under certain circumstances — opportunity and the particular mode of working of 
those who were his tutors in crime — he might be either, foreign as they would be to his 
nature. Criminal occupation, however, is, like everything else, progressive. Two 
things stand in the way of the beginner in crime attaching himself to what he may 
view — taking them in the criminal's own light — as the higher walks of predatory 
industry, the top rungs of the criminal ladder. The first is, naturally, lack of experience 
and skill ; the second, lack of confidence in him or knowledge of him by the older and 
more practiced hands, whose co-operation would be necessary. 



2 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Hence, if he cannot strike out for himself by the force of his own genius some new 
Hne of forgery, confidence operations, embezzlements, or others of the class of crimes 
dependent upon brains, adroitness, and address for their success, he must enter on the 
broad level as a general thief— one of the class who will steal anything that they can 
get away with, from a needle to a ship's anchor. From that level he may rise, partly 
by the force of his own increased knowledge of the practice of crime, partly by his 
natural adaptability for especial methods of preying upon the community, partly by the 
advice and co-operation of older criminals with whom he comes in contact, whether at 
liberty or doing time in a prison. From a petty general sneak thief he may become 
one of a gang of pickpockets, and from a pickpocket, in course of time, may suddenly 
come to the front with distinction even as a first-class bank burglar. 

Cracksmen of this class head the list of mechanical thieves. It requires rare 
qualities in a criminal to become an expert bank-safe robber. Thieves of this high 
grade stand unrivaled among their kind. The professional bank burglar must have 
patience, intelligence, mechanical knowledge, industry, determination, fertility of 
resources, and courage — all in high degree. But, even if he possess all these, they 
cannot be utilized unless he can find suitable associates or gain admission to one of the 
already organized gangs. Sometimes the arrest of a single man out of a gang will put 
a stop to the operations of the remainder for a long time, simply because they need 
another man, and can find nobody they can trust. Bank burglars have been known to 
spend years in preparation — gleaning necessary information of the habits of bank 
officials, forming advantageous acquaintances, and making approaches to the coveted 
treasure all the time, but with the patience to wait until the iron is fully hot before 
striking a blow. 

The construction of a massive bank safe, provided, as they now are, with electric 
alarms, combination and time locks, and other protective appliances, is such, that none 
but a mechanical genius can discover its weak points and attack it successfully. There 
is not a safe in use to-day that is absolutely burglar-proof, notwithstanding the fact 
that many manufacturers advertise and guarantee those of their build as such. Every 
now and then safe makers quietly alter the internal construction of their vaults, and 
these changes are brought about by the doings of some scientific robber. Just as soon 
as the safe builder becomes aware of the fact that burglars have unearthed a defect in 
vaults of his make, he sets his mechanics at work upon some new design, in the hope 
. of thwarting thieves and making his vaults the more secure. 

The wrecking of every safe, therefore, reveals a blemish, and necessitates altera- 
tions, which, of course, later on, make the work of the vault-opener more difficult. 
Hundreds of safes are turned out of the factories in the several cities weekly, and a 
calculating burglar, when he has discovered a defect in a certain pattern, will delay 
exposing his secret to the manufacturer until thousands of the seemingly strong, yet 
frail, vaults have been made and are in use. That insures him something to operate 
upon, for he well knows that after his first success, and the fact is reported at the safe 
factory, improvements will be in order. 

The proficiency attained by our bank burglars, and the apparently comparative 
ease with which they secure the contents of massive vaults, is the result of constant and 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 3 

careful study of the subject. All the resources, ingenuity and cunning of the cracksman 
who makes bank-wrecking a specialty are put to the test in an undertaking of that sort, 
and plans follow plans until one is matured which circumstances may warrant as safe, 
feasible, and profitable. Then the accomplishment of the nefarious scheme only 
depends upon nerve, daring, and mechanical tools. 

Some burglars make their own outfit, but almost any blacksmith will make any tool 
he is called upon for, if its construction is within his capacity, without asking any 
questions about the uses to which it is to be put, provided he gets his price for it. It 
is, of course, more than probable that he guesses the use for which it is intended, but 
that, he thinks, is not his business. The making of such implements is, as a rule, 
confined to those mechanics who are actually in league with the criminals who expect 
to use them. The heavy and unwieldy tools of years ago have been abandoned by the 
modern bank robber, with his new inventions. While some bank thieves use the spirit 
lamp and blow-pipe to soften the hardened metals and take the temper out of the 
steel vault doors or cases, others use only a small diamond-pointed drill. Then again, 
others, who do not care to spend time manipulating the intricate combination, use 
simple sort of machines, technically called the "drag" and " jackscrew." The former, 
simple as it looks, is extremely powerful — and so quiet. By means of a bit a hole is 
bored through a safe door ; a nut is set " inside ;" the point of the screw passes through 
the nut, which rests inside the surface that has been bored ; then the screw is turned 
by a long handle, which two men can operate. As the screw turns, the nut is forced 
forward, farther "and farther. It is a power that hardly any construction of a safe can 
resist. Either the back or the front must give way. 

The " jackscrew " is rigged so that by turning it will noiselessly force into the crack 
of a safe door a succession of steel wedges ; first, one as thin as a knife-blade ; soon, 
one as thick as your hand ; and they increase in size until the hinges give way. Where 
the size or location of the safe or vault to be forced precludes the use of these machines, 
and an explosion becomes necessary, dynamite and nitro-glycerine are used with the 
greatest skill, and with such art in the deadening of sound that sometimes an explosion 
which rends asunder a huge safe cannot be heard twenty yards away from the room in 
which it takes place. 

The patient safe robber is aware of several ingenious ways of picking combination 
locks. In following their nefarious calling these men attain a delicacy of feeling by 
which they are able to determine to a nicety the exact distance necessary to raise each 
tumbler of the lock. The burglar masters a combination with almost mathematical 
accuracy, and manipulates its complex machinery with the same dexterity and precision 
that a music-teacher touches the keys of a piano. He is trained to detect one false 
note in a swelling chorus produced by the click of reverberating ratchets within the 
lock, and marks the period and duration of the drops. When they come across some 
new kind of lock, they will manage to get possession of one, whatever its cost, and 
whatever roundabout means may be necessary to get hold of it, and, taking it apart, 
will study its construction until they know its strong and weak points, and how to master 
it, just as well as its inventor or maker could. They are always on the alert to utilize 
for their purposes every new appliance of power. 



4 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

The combination-safe picker is the cleverest of all the fraternity of lock workers. 
His is a life of study and careful experimenting. He proceeds to fathom the mystery 
of a new and intricate piece of mechanism with the same enthusiastic, yet patient, 
attention and study that actuates a scientist in search of more useful knowledge. 
Having acquired mastery over any combination, the burglar guards his secret jealously. 
Gaining access to the bank or building, he can tell at once the character of the combi- 
nation he has to deal with, and that with him is tantamount to opening the safe or 
vault. Having rifled the safe of its contents, he closes the door, and begins to make 
arrangements to deceive the officials of the institution and the detectives. The crevices 
of the door are closed with putty, with the exception of a small orifice in the upper or 
horizontal crevice, through which powder is blown into the safe by means of a small 
bellows. The hole is then closed, a slow fuse which is inserted into the crack is set fire 
to, and the building is vacated. Half an hour or so later the fuse ignites the powder, 
and the safe door is shattered from its strong fastenings. 

For fifteen years the manner in which a celebrated combination lock was picked by 
thieves was involved in mystery, during which time many honest bank employes, 
suffered in reputation, and not a few were unjustly incarcerated. The criminals who 
operated so mysteriously upon the safes never took all the money or valuables. In 
many cases they helped themselves to but a small percentage of the proceeds, and it 
was this ruse that threw the officials off their guard and brought the employes into, 
disrepute. The burglars familiarized themselves with the make and patterns of the 
locks, and then bored a hole within a short distance of where a Spindle held the 
tumblers. With the use of a common knitting-needle the tumblers were dropped and 
the safe door opened. 

The secret of another ingenious method of opening safes at last leaked out. The 
paying teller of an Eastern bank having been absent at lunch, returned earlier than was 
his wont, and discovered a strange man on his knees tampering with the dial of the 
combination. The man turned out to be "Shell" Hamilton, one of the Mark 
Shinburn gang. His arrest was the means of leading to the knowledge of the fact 
that the gang had been systematically picking a patent combination lock by removing 
the dial and placing a piece of paper behind it, so that when the safe was opened the 
combination registered its secret upon the paper. The thieves next watched their 
opportunity to gain possession of the paper, and the difficulty was at once overcome of 
opening the safe and gaining possession of its valuable contents. 

Every gang of bank burglars has its recognized leader, whose word is law. He is 
a man of brains, possessed of some executive ability, sleek and crafty. The care with 
which, perhaps for years before the consummation of a crime, he arranges the plans for 
getting at the vault, illustrates the keenness of his perception and his depth of thought. 
Every little detail is considered and followed, so as to allay suspicion and permit him 
to get the closer to his prize. Bank burglaries invariably date back, and in some cases 
it has been known that the interior drawings of the building and plans of the vaults 
made at the time of their erection have for twenty years passed through the hands of 
several gangs as the sole legacy of some crafty leader. If provided with such important 
information, when, at last, the plundering of some institution is intended, the standing 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 5 

of the concern and the value of the securities kept in the vault must first be ascertained. 
Should these prove satisfactory, the conspiracy gets under way. Next, some inquiries 
are necessary as to the mechanical part of the work to be done. The name of the 
maker of the vault, the size of the lock by which it is protected, and if electric appliances 
guard it, must all be known, and are very easily learned. 

The burglars generally hire a store adjoining the institution, from which they 
can operate the better, and in some instances they have gone so far as to rent the 
basement of the bank, or rooms overhead. They may fit up the place as an oyster 
saloon, billiard room, shoemaker's, barber's or tailor's shop, or start a dental establish- 
ment. The leader of the gang will for a long time employ none but the best workmen, 
sell A I goods, pay his rent regularly, seem anxious for custom, be pleasant to all, and 
make himself a most desirable tenant ; and his landlord has in several instances been 
the very president of the bank that this bland and good-natured tenant was secretly 
plotting against. 

The leader of the burglars, after a few weeks' steady attention to business, will pass 
much of his spare time in conversation with the bank clerks, and thereby manages to 
gain their confidence. Being a rather good judge of human nature, he is thus able to 
survey the institution, secure all the inside information he desires, and probably gain 
an important ally in his nefarious undertaking. If he can tamper with or corrupt one 
of the clerks or watchmen, then the job is plain sailing. As soon, however, as the 
scheme becomes known to an outsider, the leader, fearing treachery, hastens matters as 
rapidly as possible. Should the mechanical part of the work have been figured down, 
and the combination be at the mercy of the robbers, the final work is generally com- 
pleted between Saturday night and Sunday morning. 

By cutting through the dividing partition wall, ceiling, or floor, the bank burglar 
and his assistants find no difficulty in getting into the bank. Then the wrecking of the 
vault begins, and in a short time the treasure that it contains is in the possession of the 
cracksmen. The task complete, the burglars carry their booty into the adjoining store, 
or perhaps the basement below the ransacked institution, and at the proper time remove 
it to a much safer place. When it is discovered that the bank vault was really not as 
secure as it was supposed to be, the affable business man who ran the oyster saloon or 
billiard room next door, or made change in the barber's or shoemaker's shop in the 
basement, or superintended the drawing of teeth overhead, has suddenly abandoned his 
expensive fixtures and light stock, and has left for parts unknown. He has realized 
thousands for every dollar that he invested, and in most cases he leaves in the lurch the 
mean tool who betrayed his trust in the hope that he would reap a rich reward by 
revealing to a professional robber the secrets of the institution where he was employed. 

Some bank burglars devote most of their time and attention to the cashier of the 
bank that they have made up their minds to rob. They track him to his home, gain 
access to his sleeping-room at night, either by collusion with one of the servants, 
picking the door-locks or springing a window and gaining the keys, and take impres- 
sions in wax. Duplicates are easily made from these casts, and at the first 
opportunity the bank can be safely plundered. Should, however, the cashier be 
disturbed by the intrusion of the cracksmen into his apartment, the burglars would 



6 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

be forced to make an attempt upon the bank that night. Securing possession of 
the keys by threats, a couple of men would be left to guard the cashier while the other 
members of the band would proceed to the bank and- rob it. In several instances the 
desperate robbers, under threats of instant, death, have compelled the cashier whom 
they have surprised to accompany them to the bank and open the vault, so that they 
could rifle it. 

The names of many expert bank burglars who have gained much notoriety by their 
criminal deeds will be found in the annexed list : 

Charley Adams, alias Langdon W. Moore (22). — Jim Burns, alias Big Jim Burns 
(165). — George Bliss (see records of Nos. 20, 70, 80, 89, no, 176). — Tom Biglow (see 
records of Nos. 20, 131). — Charles Bullard, alias Piano Charley (see records of Nos. 22, 
176). — William Robinson, alias Gopher Bill (see record of No. 89). — George Havill, 
alias Joe Cook, alias Harry Thorn (15). — John Hope, alias Young Hope (19). — James 
Hope, alias Old Man Hope (20). — Harry Howard, alias English Harry (see record 
of No. 22). — Ed. Johnson (see record of No. 50). — William Kelly (see records of Nos. 
19, 90). — Mike Kerrigan, alias Johnny Dobbs (64). — Mike Kerwin, alias Barney Oats 
(see record of No. 68). — Ira Kingsland (see record of No. 70). — Peter Emmerson, 
alias Pete Luthy, alias Banjo Pete (90). — Ned Lyons (70). — John Larney, alias Mollie 
Matches (n). — George Leslie, alias George Howard (see records of Nos. 50, 74, 80). 
— Charles Lowery (see record of No. 68). — John Leary, alias Red Leary (see record 
of No. no). — Frank McCoy, alias Big Frank (89). — George Mason, alias George 
Gordon (24). — Joe Moran (see record of No. 8). — Ike Marsh (see records of -Nos. 
21, 22, 50, 89). — William Morgan, alias Bunker (see record of No. 21). — Frank 
McCrann, alias Big Frank (see record of No. 68). — Tom McCormack (201). — Sam 
Perris, alias Worcester Sam (199). — Jack Rand (see record of No. 22). — Patrick 
Shevlin (see records of Nos. 19, 28, 90). — James Simpson (see record of No. 21). — 
Charles Sanborn (see record of No. 21). — Mark Shinburn (176). — Robert S. Scott 
(see record of No. 50). — Mose Vogel (see records of Nos. 24, 50). — Gilbert Yost 
(see record of No. 74). — Adam Worth. — Joe Killoran, alias Joe Howard. — Daniel 
Dyson, alias Dan Noble. — Jim Brady, alias Big Jim. 

See general index for further information. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



BANK SNEAK THIEVES. 



POR many years bank sneak thieving flourished to an alarming extent in New 
••■ York City, and under the old detective systems it seemed impossible to put 
a stop to that form of robbery. Notorious thieves in those days were permitted to 
loiter about the street, and on more than one occasion it was alleged that well filled 
cash boxes disappeared from bankers' safes while detectives were on watch outside. 
It was also openly insinuated that there was collusion between the police and the 
rogues, and numerous changes were made, but it was afterwards discovered that the 
accusations were groundless. While it may have been true that the detectives in some 
cases were not as vigilant as they might have been, subsequent developments have 
demonstrated that the financial quarter of the city was in the past but poorly protected. 
Well known thieves no longer haunt that prescribed locality, and since the establish- ' 
ment of a sub-detective bureau in Wall Street, six years ago, not a dollar has been 
stolen from any of the wealthy concerns in the great money centre by professional 
criminals. The inauguration also of a patrol service by experienced detectives during 
business hours, and the connecting by telephone of all the banking institutions have 
been the means of putting a stop to the operations of that particular class of rogues 
known as bank sneak thieves. Still, in the other cities of the country, where these 
precautions which have proved such a great preventive against the perpetration of 
crime have not been adopted, these thieves succeed in carrying on their depredations 
and reap rich rewards. Bank sneak thieves are all men of education, pleasing address, 
good personal appearance, and are faultless in their attire. With astonishing coolness 
these determined fellows commit the most daring thefts. The handful of successful 
rogues who have attained such exalted rank in the criminal profession despise the 
thousands of other robbers who live by the commission of small crimes. Aware of 
their superiority, these men are overbearing when chance brings them in contact with 
thieves of a lower degree. This is most noticeable in their manner of conducting 
themselves while serving out sentence in prison. As their exploits must necessarily 
occur in daylight and in public places, these robbers are really more daring than the 
bank burglar, who prefers to work under cover of night. The bank sneak is not an 
adept with the pick-lock, but great presence of mind, a quick eye, and wonderful nerve 
are the essentials he must possess to become a success. 

Generally not more than three or four of these thieves are engaged in any robbery, 
and each of them has his allotted part to perform in the conspiracy. One may be a 
careful lookout, another must be an interesting conversationalist, and the third, generally 



8 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

a small-sized man, is the sneak, who stealthily steals behind the counter and captures 
the cash box or a bundle of bonds. While some robberies are carried out in a few minutes 
after the conception of the scheme, others have been planned months beforehand. The 
rogues who prowl about bankers' and brokers' offices day after day are ever on the watch 
for an opportunity to make a daring dash for plunder. Their appearance is so like that of 
the honest merchant or stock speculator that they have no difficulty in deceiving those 
who have no suspicion as to their real character or calling. They have also a faculty 
of worming themselves into the best society, and they spend their evenings in the 
lobbies of the leading hotels or other places where those foremost in financial circles are 
in the habit of assembling to discuss the events of the day. Information gathered in 
chance chats afterwards proves of valuable assistance to the cunning sneak thief in the 
carrying out of his operations. It is during those brief conversations that the robbers 
ascertain the topic that will most interest their intended victim. All men have their 
hobbies, and just as soon as the bank thief becomes aware of the fact that a certain 
banker, broker, paying teller or cashier has a failing for discussing any one thing in 
particular, they devote considerable time studying the subject until they are able to talk 
upon it properly and interestingly. This is one of the preliminary steps in a planned 
robbery. Next the thieves make themselves familiar with the manner in which business 
is conducted in the bank or office they are plotting to pillage. They never neglect any 
point, no matter how small it may be. The exact time that the clerks are in the habit of 
leaving their desks for dinner, the restaurants they dine at, and the time they are allowed 
for meals, are all noted. These are necessary for the success of the undertaking, and when 
at last all the plans have been perfected, the prize is captured at a time when there are 
but few persons in the banking institution. There have been exceptions to this rule, 
however, and cash boxes have been successfully spirited away just at the moment of the 
receipt of some astounding financial intelligence, and while the office was thronged with 
merchants and brokers discussing the startling news. Thefts of that sort require but a 
moment, and have been executed as rapidly as the occasion presents itself. 

Here is a genuine instance of the great presence of mind of these criminals, from 
the record of one of the leading and most successful sneak thieves : There was a heated 
discussion in a broker's office one day about the location of a town in Ohio. The noted 
robber slipped into the place just in time to overhear several of the gentlemen declaring 
that the town was in different counties in that State. While the. argument progressed 
the thief hit upon a plan that would enable him to capture the cash box, which 
temptingly rested in the safe, the door of which was open. He left as quickly as 
possible, and, meeting his confederate outside, sent him to a stationery store, telling 
him to buy several maps, and one especially showing the counties and towns in Ohio. 
Then the rogue returned to the broker's office to await his opportunity. A few minutes 
later he was followed by his companion in the rdle of a map peddler. Being at first 
told that no maps were wanted, the cunning accomplice, in a loud voice, said : 

"Can I show you a new map, giving the boundaries of all the towns and counties 
in Ohio ?" 

The appeal was overheard by one of the men who had been involved in the recent 
discussion. He told the peddler to stop, at the same time saying, " Now, boys, I'll bet 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 9 

whatever you like that the town is in the county I said, and as chance has brought us 
a map, the bets can be settled without delay," Several bets were made, and for a few 
minutes the broker's office was in a much greater state of excitement than it ever had 
been before, even in panic days. As the peddler slowly unrolled his bundle of maps the 
brokers and the clerks gathered about him, anxious to learn the result. The sneak 
took advantage of the excitement and made his way, unnoticed, to the safe. He cap- 
tured the cash box, containing $20,000, and escaped with it while his confederate was 
selling the map. 

Another professional sneak, known as a man of great coolness and determination, 
and possessed of no small degree of courage, is credited with having entered a bank 
early in the morning and going behind the desk, divested himself of his coat, and, 
donning a duster, installed himself as clerk. He coolly waited there some time watch- 
ing for a chance to seize a roll of greenbacks, bonds, or anything valuable that he could 
lay his hands on. One of the clerks requested the intruder to leave, but the wily thief 
retorted by telling the former to mind his own business, and also intimating that as 
soon as his friend, the president, arrived, he would have what he pleased to call a med- 
dlesome fellow punished. The clerk, however, insisted upon the rogue's vacating the 
•desk, and he finally did so under protest. In a seemingly high state of indignation the 
robber left the place, and later on the cashier, to his surprise, discovered that he had 
suddenly and mysteriously become $15,000 short. Of course the thief never called a 
second time to explain the mystery. 

A bundle of bonds vanished from one of the rooms in a Safe Deposit vault in an 
Eastern city, recently, and the theft was not discovered until three months after the 
robbery had been committed. One of the depositors had called at the place for the 
purpose of clipping off his coupons. He had taken his box out of the compartment 
in which it was kept, and had gone into a side room with a table to do the coupon 
cutting. There was no one in the apartment excepting himself, but just as he had fin- 
ished a man whom he believed to be one of the clerks entered the chamber for a second. 
The visitor tapped the old gentleman on the shoulder and instantly said, " Excuse 
me, sir, I have made a mistake," and passed out again. While the aged depositor had 
turned to see who it was had tapped him on the left shoulder, the supposed clerk, who 
was a professional sneak, picked up the bundle of bonds, which lay near the former's 
right hand. It happened that the lid of the tin box was down, and having no suspicion, 
and supposing that he had replaced the bonds, the old man returned the empty box to 
his compartment. Three months later, when the depositor again called at the Safe 
Deposit vaults to clip another set of coupons, he discovered that his bonds were miss- 
ing and no one was able to account for their disappearance. 

The robbery, it has been asserted, was effected in this way. In the Safe Deposit 
vaults was employed a clerk who was in the habit of wearing a buff-colored duster, 
much bedabbled with ink. On the day of the robbery the clerk was sent out on an 
errand and was away from his desk for nearly half an hour. During his absence a sneak 
thief of his build, and somewhat like him in appearance, and wearing an ink-stained 
duster, ran quickly down the steps, and without exciting any suspicion passed the 
watchman on guard at the entrance to the Safe Deposit vaults. No one paid any 



lO PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

particular attention to the robber as he passed through the several rooms, supposing 
him to be the clerk. After he had captured the roll of bonds from which the coupons 
had been freshly cut, the man in the buff duster, unnoticed, passed out with the booty. 

In robbing country banks, where the clerks are few, and generally during the 
dinner hour the cashier or paying teller is the only man left in the institution, sneaks 
have a simple and easy scheme for plundering. One first enters the bank and 
engages the cashier or teller in conversation, upon a subject in which the latter 
becomes deeply interested. While this is going on a carriage halts at the door, and the 
driver is sent in to tell the official inside that a gentleman who has hurt his leg and is 
unable to walk, desires to speak to him outside. The unsuspecting cashier or teller 
excuses himself to his first visitor and goes out to speak to the injured man, and in 
his absence the bank is ransacked. Robberies of this kind are committed quite fre- 
quently, and gangs of sneaks travel all over the country with a circus or wild beast 
show. In the towns and small cities the parade of the performers creates considerable 
excitement, and when the cavalcade happens to pass a bank the clerks, cashiers and 
paying tellers seem to forget themselves and run to the windows to look out. The 
sneak thieves take advantage of the opportunity and quietly slip into the institution. 
In a twinkling their work is complete, and before the procession has passed they have 
escaped with whatever they could lay hands on. 

If, while watching about a bank a large check is cashed and the customer turns 
aside to a desk to count the money, the rogues generally succeed in getting a portion 
of the cash. The thief will drop a bill upon the floor, and just as the man has arranged 
his pile of notes the criminal will politely tell him that he has dropped some of his 
money. When the former stoops down to pick up the greenback, the sneak will steal 
a portion of the cash upon the desk, and walk off unquestioned. They are not greedy 
in ventures of that sort, but they secure enough, with almost comparative safety, and 
are content. Heated arguments invariably follow thefts of this sort. After counting 
his money, the depositor goes back to the teller and insists that he is short. The teller 
is equally positive that he paid out the proper amount, and in most cases a disruption 
of commercial relations is the culmination of the dispute. 

Bank sneak thieves are not, however, confined to these systems. They are men of 
adaptability, and act at all times according to circumstances. They have been known 
to rob messengers in the street while on their way to bank to make a deposit. Some 
messengers always carry the bank book in their hand, with the bills folded between the 
covers. The ends of the greenbacks may extend beyond the length of the book, and 
these will instantly catch the quick eye of an experienced rogue. While the messenger 
is passing through a crowd, he will be thrown off his guard by a start of surprise, or a 
laughable remark. During that moment the entire amount in the book has been 
abstracted, and when the man reaches the bank and finds the cash gone, he cannot 
imagine how it was that he lost it. 

The best safeguard against the bank-sneak thief is to be able to recognize him at 
sight, and be sure of his real character. The annexed list contains many of the names 
of the leading rogues' who operate in that line, and whose photographs are to be found 
in the book : 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. II 

Frank Buck, alias Bucky Taylor (27). — Jim Burns, alias Big Jim Burns (165). — Billy 
Burke, alias Billy the Kid (162). — Bill Bartlett (see records of No. 71 and George 
Wilkes). — Bill Baker (165). — George Carson, alias Heywood (3). — William Coleman, 
alias Billy Coleman (g). — John Curtin (169). — John Carroll, aHas The Kid (192). — 
Charlotte Dougherty, stall for bank sneaks (see records of Nos. 25, i, 179). — John 
Duffy (see record of No. 50). — Charles Fisher, alias Purdy (41). — Billy Forrester 
(76). — Billy Flynn (see records of Nos. 3, 50, 95, 165). — Eddie Guerin (see 
records of Nos. 11, 187). — Horace Hovan, alias Little Horace (25). — Robert Hovan 
(179). — Charley Hicks (see record of No. 8). — John Jourdan (83). — Thomas Leary, 
alias Kid Leary (6). — Ned Lyons (70). — Rufe Minor, alias Pine (i). — Emanuel Marks, 
alias Minnie Marks (187). — John O'Brien, alias The Kid (see record of No. 22). — 
Phillip Phearson, alias Philly Pearson (5). — C. J. Everhardt, alias Marsh Market 
Jake (38). — Joe Parish (84). — John Price (see records of Nos. i, 9, 54). — Bill 
Vosburg (4). — Joe McClusky (see records of Nos. 8, 50). — Walter Sheridan (8). — 
Jim Brady, alias Big Jim. 

See regular index for further information. 



12 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



FORGERS. 



A DISTINGUISHED and learned criminal jurist tersely described forgery as "the 
false making or materially altering, with intent to defraud, any writing which, if 
genuine, might apparently be of legal efficacy in the foundation of a legal liability." 
The crime, in a general sense, is the illegal falsification or counterfeiting of a writing, 
bill, bond, will, or other document, and the statutes generally make the uttering or using 
the forged instrument essential to the offense. The uttering is complete, however, if 
an attempt is made to use the fraudulent paper as intended, though the forgery be 
discovered in season to defeat the fraud designed. The intent to deceive and defraud 
is often conclusively presumed from the forgery itself. If one forge a note, or name, 
word or even figure upon a note, and cause it to be discounted, it is no defense 
whatever to the charge of forgery that he intended to pay the note himself, and had 
actually made provisions that no person should be injured. Forgery, attended as it is 
with such ruinous consequences, is easily perpetrated, and detected with much difficulty. 
It was one of the capital offenses years ago, and at the present time the punishment is 
severe, the Penal Code of the State of New York making the sentence, upon a second 
conviction for forgery in the first degree, imprisonment for life. 

As compared with the other criminal classes the number of professional forgers in 
the United States is very small. All told there are not more than two dozen expert 
penmen and engravers who prostitute their talents by imitating the handwriting and 
workmanship of others. Few as are these swindlers, occasionally they suddenly launch 
forth some gigantic scheme, flooding the principal cities with their spurious and 
worthless paper. The operations of the forger are not by any means confined to this 
country and Canada. The bankers of Europe have been fleeced by them, and conspir- 
acies hatched here have almost caused financial panics in England and on the Continent. 
But little was really known about the ingenious plottings and secret schemes of forgers 
and counterfeiters until the celebrated international criminal, Wilkes, made a confession 
of his doings. The statement made by the shrewd rascal while in prison in Italy, a few 
years since, is the most interesting document of its kind in existence. It covers a long 
period — nearly twenty years — and tells the inner history of one of the greatest bands 
of forgers that has ever been organized. The notorious penman's confession is given 
in full in another part of this book. 

The professional forger is a man of great ability, and naturally a cunning and 
suspicious sort of an individual. Cautious in the extreme, he prefers to work in secret, 
and probably never more than two of his most intimate companions know what he is 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 13 

about until the counterfeits he has produced are ready to be put in circulation. So 
guarded is he, in fact, that while imitating the signature of a banking firm, duplicating 
the bonds or securities of a large corporation, or printing the delicately executed notes 
and currency of a country, he never permits any of his friends to enter his secret 
workshop. It is the proud boast of one of the most notorious of these swindlers, that 
while at his nefarious work no man, woman, or child ever saw him with a pen in his 
hand. 

Some of the most prominent forgers are chemists, and by the aid of a secret 
mixture of acids, they are able to erase figures in ink from the face of notes 
without destroying or damaging the paper. Thus genuine orders upon banks or 
brokers for a few dollars are easily raised up into the thousands. Others, having a 
talent for imitating handwriting, especially autographs, fill out blank checks and notes 
to suit themselves. Photography has also recently been successfully applied as a 
means for transferring fine tracing, delicate engravings, and even signatures. 

Away in the background, although plotting and planning daring work for others 
to execute, the forger runs but few risks by following a system calculated to protect 
himself against the annoyance of arrest or the danger of conviction. He keeps aloof 
from the several members of his band, and in most cases is only known to his manager, 
the go-between and guiding spirit of the gang. This is one of his best safeguards, 
and no matter what slip there may afterwards be in the effort to secure money upon his 
spurious paper, he is able to baffle all attempts to fasten the foundation of the crime 
upon himself. He employs as his manager only a man in whom he has the utmost 
confidence to conduct the negotiations, and the latter is generally a person of such 
notoriously bad character, that no jury would accept his uncorroborated testimony 
should he prove unfaithful. There have been instances, however, in which the manager 
has also been the capitalist and leading plotter. Such men are to be found in the best 
walks of life, and although having a good social standing their means of existence is a 
mystery to many. These are the most careful go-betweens, and they also have guarded 
ways of putting the forged notes into the hands of the agents of the "layers down," 
the title by which those who finally dispose of the fraudulent paper are known. 

The organization of a forger's gang is unlike that of any other class of thieves. 
It has many subdivisions, all working in concert, and still but few of the operators have 
any acquaintance with the leading spirits in the vast conspiracy. The poor tools who 
risk their liberty never know the penman or engraver whose work they handle, and the 
forger, on the other hand, does not wish an acquaintance with them. He knows them 
simply by reputation as a good or ordinary " layer down," just as their standing may 
be. Then there are the quiet agents, who gather information and rarely appear in any 
criminal proceeding. These have a wide circle of acquaintances, many of whom are 
reputable merchants and brokers. During pleasant chats in the bar and reading rooms 
of hotels and at fashionable resorts, much useful information necessary for the carrying 
out of large plans is gleaned. 

A banker's clerk, fond of billiards or horse-racing, and living above his salary, 
while in bad luck meets an agreeable friend at the track or around the green baize 
table. The forger's secret and most dangerous agents grasp the situation at a glance, 



14 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

and hidden behind their apparent good-nature is a plot for plunder. The clerk's losses 
make him desperate, and he never declines the proffered loan. It may be only a small 
sum, but it is the first step towards his downfall. He has become entangled in the 
clutches of a sharper, and at short acquaintance stands ready to follow the advice of his 
generous friend. When it is suggested that blank checks, or better still, ones filled out 
if procured by him, no matter the means he resorts to to get them, will bring him in a 
supply of ready cash, he grasps the opportunity. Rarely does the firm suspect, when 
at last the forgeries are scattered broadcast, that their fast-living clerk is really respon- 
sible for the counterfeits. The reckless young man, tainted by the success of others, 
will in a short time attempt to imitate signatures himself. Not having served a proper 
apprenticeship in ways that are wicked, the forgery is apparent. Caught in the act, he 
is sent to prison, and forever afterwards is an outcast from society. 

The clerk's experience demonstrates but one of the insidious methods of the crafty 
forger and his agents. He has other schemes, most prominent among which is using 
the dishonest broker. Under cover of a legitimate business they dispose of considerable 
worthless bonds and securities. It often happens that stolen, forged, and counterfeit 
bonds are hypothecated for loans by some tottering firm, and are never redeemed. 
Bankers duped in that way, rather than make public the fact that they have been taken 
in, prefer to bear their losses and make no effort to prosecute the swindler. 

The men who for a small percentage dispose of forged paper or handle counter- 
feits are mostly ex-convicts or novices in crime. Some of the check passers operate 
according to system and others depend upon circumstances. Several of the principal 
means taken by those who utter the spurious paper can be briefly explained. A forger, 
only one of whose notes was ever refused, always furnished his operators with duplicate 
drafts. One of these simply endorsed upon the back would at first be presented at the 
bank by the "layer down." The latter being a stranger, the teller would naturally 
decline to honor the note without proper identification. Then the "layer down," after 
remarking that he was not well acquainted with financial matters, would take the check 
and leave the institution. The second note, properly certified and endorsed with the 
signature of the firm whose genuine check had been imitated, would be handed to the 
operator by an accomplice on the street. After a brief absence the man would return 
to the bank and get the money, the teller supposing the identification to be freshly 
written. The presentation of the identified check first would not have been regular, 
and the wily leader never permitted any of his tools to run such risks. 

The forger has another plan for depleting the bank account of a firm whose name 
he is using without authorization. It is to have at least three layers down. The rule 
is, if the first man comes out all right a second is sent in, and if he succeeds the third 
follows. Here the operations end for the day, and afterwards a watch is kept upon the 
bank until it is closed, and also upon the broker's office, the signature of which firm is 
being forged. Should no unusual commotion be observed at either place, it is taken 
for granted that the victim's account is large enough to be drawn from still further A 
day or two later other checks previously prepared are presented in the same way. 
Upon the slightest sign of discovery the "layer down" and his lookouts disappear as 
quickly as possible, one covering the escape of the other. In the selection of the men 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 1 5 

who cash the notes old favorites are sent in first, as the chances of detection are then 
at a minimum. As the account drawn upon may give out at any moment, and then 
there would be questions to answer, the last men are required to possess plenty of 
nerve. The amount of a firm's account in bank is always a matter of guess-work, and 
therefore risky, though the forger's rule is to select wealthy concerns, leave a wide 
margin and work up gradually. 

The forger has but little trouble getting the numbers for the checks he intends 
using. Just before the close of business on a Saturday afternoon one of his agents 
calls at the broker's office and sells some genuine bonds, and in payment asks that he 
be given at least two checks, explaining that he desires to send them by letter into the 
country or some other place. They are never refused, and therefore the forger thus 
manages to get the last numbers of the checks issued by the firm. This gives him all 
day Sunday to fix the figures on the forgeries, and he is ready to operate without fear 
of detection from that source first thing on Monday morning. The genuine checks 
several days later reach the bank through some reputable business firm, but in the 
meantime they have passed through so many hands that it is next to an impossibility 
to trace them. 

A common, yet dangerous scheme, which has been carried out many times with 
success by check raisers, is like this : A member of the gang is first sent to purchase 
two drafts payable at a bank in another city. One is made out for a small amount and 
the other for a considerable sum. In a few days the purchaser returns the large check 
to the bank saying that he was unable to use it as he had intended. The amount It 
calls for is refunded to him and the redeemed check in. most instances destroyed. 
Then, having a clear field before him, the forger forwards the small draft raised to 
correspond in number, date and amount to the large one to some distant city for 
collection. As the genuine draft has in the meantime been torn up, there is rarely any 
difficulty in getting the raised one cashed, and sometimes the deceit is not discov- 
ered at the bank of issue. Many cashiers have spent hours going over their books 
on account of a shortage, and all the trouble and annoyance was due to a raised 
check. 

The photo-lithographic process of check counterfeiting first came to light in this 
city a few years ago. The checks were presented by a smart lad who invariably 
succeeded in cashing them. He was caught at last laying down one of the worthless 
notes, and had it not been for an accident he might then have escaped. The cashier 
to whom it was presented, while examining the draft, noticed that it was blurred, and 
on submitting it to experts, his suspicions were confirmed. It had been prepared with 
such accuracy that the stamp on it could not be distinguished from an authentic one. 
The forger, however, had not been satisfied with his work, and essayed an improve- 
ment by the use of chemicals, which in the warmth of the carrier's hand, had blurred 
and discolored the paper. The lad when cornered made a clean breast of it, and said 
that his brother-in-law had employed him to procure genuine checks and carry forged 
paper to the bank. 

A man who appeared to be prudent, careful, conducting his transactions after the 
best methods, and on the strictest business principles, opened an account, a few years 



1 6 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

back, with one of the city banks under the name of Clarke. He soon won the confi- 
dence of the bank authorities. At first depositing moderate sums of money he created 
the belief that he was engaged in legitimate commerce, and he only called in his 
deposits as might any ordinary merchant. He always kept a balance in the bank and 
seemed in no hurry to push his affairs to extremities. The money on deposit was in 
certified checks of another bank, and Clarke and his credit was established, to all 
appearances, on a very comfortable basis. Suddenly the notes began to assume an 
alarming magnitude. They came, too, in unusually rounded figures, $4,500 and $6,500 
looming up on their faces. The suspicion of the cashier was aroused and an inquiry 
was set on foot. Clarke's dealings were discovered to have jumped to such an altitude 
that it was at once decided that something must be wrong. 

The authorities at the second bank were consulted, the checks were examined and 
at once their real nature became apparent, and they were pronounced forgeries. Both 
banks were amazed. Their consternation increased the more closely they tested the 
checks. Each additional discrepancy discovered proved that the forgeries were not 
ordinary ones, and it was more than likely that they were being perpetrated on other 
institutions and probably for large amounts. These checks, so many of which had 
passed current at the bank of certification, had been printed and stamped on specially 
manufactured paper and signed with a regularly prepared ink. The writing was done 
in a bold, free hand that challenged detection by its freedom and similarity to that of 
the treasurer of the Western Union Telegraph Company. They were lithographed 
imitations of the genuine checks of the bank, with a slight difference in the safety test, 
the numbering and the ink, but in rush of business these trifling defects could not be 
remarked. The forgeries were admitted clever beyond all experience, and no fault was 
found with the teller for certifying them as genuine. In those cases the layer down 
was a poor youth the bogus merchant had employed in his sham office at a salary of a 
few dollars per week. 

Forgers who make a practice of defrauding the banks of the smaller cities, first 
establish confidence with the officials of the institution they intend to plunder. This 
is done in a very simple manner, but one that generally proves successful. Several 
weeks before the forgery is attempted the advance agent of the gang hires and opens 
an insurance or real estate office in the vicinity of the bank. At the latter place he 
makes a number of bona fide deposits and has some business transactions, which are 
simply the transfer of money from one city to another. Then when he is beyond sus- 
picion he lays down for collection a draft for a large sum, which bears the forged signa- 
ture of a genuine depositor at a bank in a distant city. Upon the presentation of the 
paper the officials telegraph to the bank it is drawn upon, inquiring if the person or 
firm whose forged signature it bears is a depositor in good standing there. The answer 
being satisfactory, at least three-fourths of the amount called for by the check is will- 
ingly advanced by the bank of deposit, to the forger's trusted agent. In due time the 
counterfeit is forwarded for collection through the regular business channels, and when 
it finally reaches its destination its character is discovered. The insurance or real 
estate office has in the meantime collapsed, and the forger and his tools have vanished. 
A smart gang, with a dozen or more advance agents, have been known to dupe in a 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 1 7 

single year over forty banks throughout the country, netting, with a small outlay, about 
$160,000 by their operations. 

Storekeepers and business firms have been swindled time and again by a peculiar 
class of forgers who seem to be satisfied with a few hundred dollars, and sometimes 
less. In all large cities these men succeed in operating extensively with raised or 
worthless checks. After a small purchase the forger presents the draft in payment, and 
should he be questioned, generally gives some ready reference. In his off-hand way of 
dealing with his victims the layer down is careful not to give an inkling of his true 
character till they have fallen a prey to his deceptions. When one of these criminals 
is run down as many as one hundred and fifty complainants appear to prosecute him. 

Sometimes it happens in altering checks that the chemicals leave a blur upon the 
paper that cannot be erased. As the notes, although for small amounts, are genuine, 
the forger not willing to lose money even in experimenting, has been known to burn 
off the portion of the paper that he had unsuccessfully tampered with. Then one of 
his friends writes to the bank by which the draft was issued, stating that it had acci- 
dentally been partially burned, giving the date of issue and the amount it called for, 
and requesting that a duplicate be forwarded to the writer. To confirm the accident 
story, the fragments of the check are enclosed in the envelope. The duplicate asked 
for is generally received by return mail. 

The craftiness and audacity of the professional forger may be better understood 
by the recital of the following actual occurrence : 

Six years ago a band of international criminals left this city for the purpose 
of robbing foreign bankers with the aid of a large supply of well-executed coun- 
terfeit circular notes. The men were scarcely upon the high seas before the conspiracy 
became known here. Without delay cablegrams were flashed across the ocean warning 
the European authorities of the entire plot, and giving the names and accurate descrip- 
tions of all the operators. Notwithstanding the warning, the forger and his assistants 
landed without detection, and made their headquarters in one of the largest cities. In 
the course of a few days after his arrival the chief conspirator, who was traveling as an 
American tourist, desirous of becoming familiar with the faces and workings of the 
detectives, secured a letter of introduction to the Chief of the Bureau or Department 
of Criminal Investigations. He was well received, ah the workings of that branch of 
the police service were explained to him, and he was pleasantly entertained for half an 
hour or more by the head of the force himself. During the chat the conversation 
turned apparently incidentally to forgers and counterfeiters. The detective, thrown 
completely off his guard, unbosomed himself to the bogus tourist. On the desk before 
the former lay the important message sent from New York concerning the band of 
forgers. It was an official secret, but the detective had no scruples in confiding it to 
his visitor. Telling the latter that his department was in communication with similar 
institutions in the United States, the Chief of one of the largest detective forces in 
Europe picked up the message and read it from beginning to end to the sham tourist. 
It was startling and unexpected news to the forger, but he controlled his alarm and 
resumed the conversation. At its close the noted criminal shook the hand of the 
poHce official who had unconsciously and gratuitously furnished him with so much 



1 8 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

information, and drove back to his hotel. The forger and his band disappeared from 
the city that night. 

The counterfeiting of bonds and securities, for some unaccountable reason, seems 
to be at a standstill at present, and there is no likelihood that it will be resumed for 
some time to come. It is also a significant fact that all the leading spirits in that line 
in this country now devote their time and talents defrauding banks and brokers by 
forged drafts. They have tired most probably of the stupendous schemes which took 
years of constant study to perfect. It is well to remember, too, that all the recent 
attempts to flood the foreign market with forged paper have proved disastrous failures, 
in consequence of the timely warnings sent abroad from this city. The fabrication of 
the Brazilian and French bank-notes, the Missouri State Soldiers' pay securities, the 
Central Pacific and Morris & Essex Railroad bonds, are the latest conspiracies frus- 
trated. Spurious greenbacks are not as numerous now as they were a few years ago, 
and coin counterfeiting has entirely passed out of the hands of the professional coiner. 

The genuine and false names of the forgers who occupy a high rank in that illicit 
calling will be found in the annexed list : 

Charles O. Brockway, alias Vanderpool (14). — Charles Becker (18). — William E. 
Brockway (32). — R. S. Ballard, alias Bullard (35). — Robert Bowman, alias Hogan (39). 
— Colonel A. C. Branscom (97). — George Bell (193). — Lester Beach (17). — George 
Havill, alias Joe Cook (15).- — Edward Condit (42). — Hugh L. Courtenay, alias Lord 
Courtenay (58). — Joe Chapman (see records of Nos. 16, 18, 202, and George Wilkes). 
— Henry Cleary (see records of Nos. ^il^ i93> 3-"^ George Wilkes). — Isaac Hooper 
(see record of No. 172). — Edward Darlington (36). — J. B. Doyle (see records of 
Nos. 31, 32). — Charles Denken (see records of Nos. 38, 41). — C. J. Everhardt, alias 
Marsh Market Jake (38). — Joe EUiott, alias Joe Reilly (16). — George Engles (see 
records of No. 18 and George Wilkes). — Charles Fisher, alias Purdy (41). — Charles 
Farren (see records of Nos. 13, 193.) — Robert Fox (see record of No. T)!)- — Val- 
entine Gleason (see records of Nos. 8, 55, and George Wilkes). — Andy Gilligan 
(see record of No. 13). — Bertha Heyman (122). — John Hughes, alias John O'Neil, 
alias Jason Smith (60). — Charles Ward, alias Hall (104). — James Lee (108). — George 
Little, alias Tip Little (172). — Luther R. Martin, alias Martin Luther (31). — William 
H. Lyman (see record of No. 39). — Franklin J. Moses, alias ex-Governor Moses (98). 
^-Steve Raymond, alias Marsha'l (55). — John Pettengill (198). — Charles Williamson, 
alias Perrine (202). — Walter Pierce, alias Porter (see records of Nos. 38, 41). — 
Augustus Raymond, alias Gus Raymond (26). — Walter Sheridan, alias Ralston (8). — 
Andrew L. Roberts (see records of Nos. 8, 55, and George Wilkes). — Freddie 
Reeves (see record of No. 1 12).— Charles Smyth, alias Doc. Smyth (112). — Charles 
R. Titus, alias Dr. Thompson (40). — Albert Wilson, alias Al. Wilson (37). — D. S. 
Ward, alias Capt. Ward (57). — George Edwards, alias Lynch (see record of No. 16), 
—Nathan B. Foster. — William E. Grey.— Clement Herring, alias Old Man Herring. — 
Louis Siscovitch. — Ivan, alias Carlo Siscovitch, alias Adams. — Elijah Alliger. — Susan 
R. Buck. — Charles B. Orvis. — G. W. Pontez. — George Wilkes. 

See regular index for further particulars. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 19 



HOTEL AND BOARDING-HOUSE THIEVES. 



THE class of thieves devoting themselves to robbing rooms in hotels and in fashion- 
able boarding-houses operate according to circumstances and always have their 
wits about them for any unexpected emergency. The successful ones are men of 
respectable appearance, good address, and cool and daring fellows. Some follow their 
nefarious vocation only in the morning, others in the afternoon, and still others operate 
at night. In their methods of procedure each of these subdivisions has other dis- 
tinguishing peculiarities. A great deal of ingenuity in getting into rooms is not 
infrequently shown by these men who in working run all sorts of risks and take 
desperate chances. 

Until he has accomplished his purpose the hotel thief pursues his prey from one 
■establishment to another with a persistency that knows no faltering. He makes it a 
specialty to scan the newspapers carefully, and keeps himself posted on the latest 
arrivals, the rooms they occupy and other data of interest. The coming and going of 
professionals, particularly female theatrical stars, salesmen, bankers, and bridal parties, 
and all persons likely to carry valuable jewelry and trinkets or a large amount of 
money, in this way are noted and are objects of special importance and solicitude. 

When the unsuspecting prey fatigued by travel gives proof of his unconsciousness 
by deep, stertorous breathing, the hotel thief steals silently from his hiding-place. A 
slight push may let him enter the apartment, or it may be necessary to use a gimlet and 
a small piece of crooked wire to slide back the bolt, or a pair of nippers to turn the key 
left on the inside in the lock, from the corridor. Sometimes as many as a dozen rooms 
in the same hotel have been plundered in one night and none of the watchmen saw or 
heard the thief. The old style of climbing through transoms or unkeyed windows 
is at present not much in vogue. The hotel thief can carry his entire outfit in his 
vest pocket and can laugh in his sleeve at the common bolts and bars. The much 
boasted of chain-bolt can now be drawn back from the outside with only a piece of 
silk thread having a match tied to one end of it. 

The shooting back of the old-fashioned slide-bolt from the outside of the apart- 
ment was for many years a bewildering mystery. As there were no marks to be found 
on the door in most cases when a robbery was reported, the hotel proprietor would 
frown and the clerk leer ; both facial contortions being meant to express suspicion and 
incredulity. Many times the unfortunate victim has been turned away as a cheat and 
a fraud, who wanted to swindle the hotel out of his board bill or else to bring a suit for 
damages on a trumped up charge. The result has been that strangers who had also 



20 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

been robbed under such conditions were afraid to report the case lest they too should be 
regarded with suspicion and treated with insult. In all of these robberies the bolt 
which had been shot back so mysteriously was located either above or underneath the 
common key-lock. A piece of crooked wire inserted through the keyhole by the nimble 
rogue made the bolt worthless, and a turn of the knob was all that was required to open 
the door. 

It does not take over a few minutes for an expert hotel thief to enter a room. 
After he has reached the door of the apartment in which the weary traveler is sleeping 
soundly, he takes from his pocket a small nippers, a bent piece of wire, and a piece of 
silk thread. These are the only tools some men use. Inserting the nippers in the 
keyhole, he catches the end of the key. Then a twist shoots back the lock bolt, and 
another leaves the key in a position from which it can easily be displaced. Should the 
slumber of the occupant of the room be disturbed by the falling of the key on the 
carpet or floor, time is given him to fall asleep again. By pressing on the door the 
thief next locates the bolt. A piece of thread is attached to the bent point of the wire, 
making a sort of bow ; and after crooking the wire to suit, it is pushed through the 
keyhole and carried up or down to the bolt. The looped head throws the pin of the 
bolt into place ; the string is moved sideways until it grapples the pin, and then the 
bolt is slid back out of the nosing. The door yields to a slight pressure, and the 
completion of the task is deftly and expeditiously performed. Some thieves always 
stop to lock the room door behind them. 

At their leisure these thieves spend their time "fixing" rooms in hotels. This is 
necessary in first-class establishments, where the room doors are protected by improved 
locks. One of these, known as the "thumb bolt," requires to be tampered with before- 
hand. While the shrewd robber occupies the room which, it may not be until months 
afterward, he intends to rob, he prepares the lock so that it will aid him in his future 
operations. Removing the screws, he takes off the thumb-plate and iiles a slot in the 
spring-bar. Then he replaces the plate and screws, and marks on the outside of the 
door by a slight indentation in the woodwork, or by a raising made by a brad-awl 
from the inside, the exact point at which to strike the filed slot when the door is locked. 
Returning on the night of the robbery with the only tools necessary — a common brad- 
awl and a pair of nippers — he pierces the soft wood at the proper point, and then by 
pushing the awl further in strikes the slot, and is able to noiselessly turn the bolt ; he 
then uses his nippers to unlock the door. As many as a dozen rooms in a single hotel 
are " fixed " in this way, and the thief, by occasionally keeping his eye upon the register, 
awaits his prey. If some well known character in the habit of wearing costly jewels is 
registered as the tenant in one of the " fixed " rooms, then the thief engages an apartment 
on the same floor, and during the night-time consummates the long planned crime. 

Another plan, and the one that is generally adopted by rogues who prowl about 
hotel corridors in the daytime, is to draw the screws of the nosing of the bolt and lock. 
By boring the screw-holes larger and moistening the screws, the latter are replaced and 
maintain a sufficient grip not to be displaced by the ordinary jar. As the wood 
becomes dry the door at the proper time can without trouble or danger from noise be 
easily forced in. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 21 

The boarding-house thief, always a smooth and entertaining talker, makes acquaint- 
ances in new quarters in short order. Generally in a pleasant sort of a chat with the 
inquisitive landlady, before he has been many hours there, he succeeds in gleaning all 
the information about the other guests in the house that he desires to know. Most 
women have the foolish fondness of making a display of their jewels and valuables in 
the parlor or dining-room of the fashionable boarding-house. While amusing his 
newly-made acquaintances with his laughable stories, the astute robber is at the same 
time making a thorough survey. His covetous eyes never miss the flash of diamonds, 
and should he be in doubt as to the genuineness of the sparklers, he has only to speak 
of them to one of the friends of the wearer, and he will be told when and where they 
were bought and the price paid for them. 

After the cunning rogue has secured a full inventory of the jewels and valuable 
trinkets kept in the several rooms of the house he is ready for business. While the 
■other guests are at breakfast or dinner the thief remains up-stairs, and the thorough 
manner in which he rummages the several apartments in such short time is really sur- 
prising. Before his victims have finished their morning or evening chat the thief's work 
is complete, and with well filled valise, unnoticed he slips out of the house. Probably 
before the robbery is discovered, the professional criminal is aboard of a train and on 
his way to some other city to dispose of his plunder and resume his profitable exploits. 
Thieves of this class are troublesome to track, but when run down at last there is no 
end to the number of complainants that come forward to prosecute them. 

The names of several first-class hotel and boarding-house thieves, and of a number 
•of rogues who have plundered the residences of physicians, will be found in the following 
list : 

William Connelly, alias Old Bill (51). — Frank Auburn (46). — William Brooks, 
alias Fale (43). — Jim Blake (see record of No. 50). — Dave Cummings, alias Little 
Dave (50). — Albert Cropsey, alias Williams (54). — William Carter, alias Three- 
Fingered Jack (see record of No. 44). — Edward Fairbrother, alias Dr. West (48). — 
George W. Gamphor (49). — Charles Hylebert, alias Cincinnati Red, alias Red Hyle 
(44). — Edward Hyatt, alias Sturgess (45). — Doctor Long, alias Pop White (94). — 
William Miller, alias Billy Miller (53). — Charles McLaughlin, alias McClain (59). — 
Billy Pease (52). — Edward Rice, ahas Big Rice (12). — Emile Voegtlin (47). — Charles 
Williams, alias Williams, alias Hoyt (194). — John Cannon, alias Old Jack (loi). — 
Thomas White, alias Montreal Tom (see record of No. 101). — George Stacy, alias The 
Peoria Kid (see record of No. loi). — John B. Towle (106). 

See regular index for further information. 



22 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



SNEAK AND HOUSE THIEVES. 



THE housebreaker and sneak are the most numerous of the thieving fraternity. It 
is from the slums that the lower grade are recruited, but the successful robber 
must combine superior qualifications to make him an adept at the business. Still the 
former are not devoid of ingenuity. Locks and bolts cannot be relied upon as a ram- 
part against these men. There are but few dwellings in this city or country that are 
proof against the assaults of the burglar and sneak thief. Some people believe their 
homes secure when they have fastened the doors and windows. The average sneak 
thief laughs at the flimsy barriers, and can undo every one of them with a few simple 
instruments which he carries in his vest pocket. Even the chain-bolt, which has been 
considered so formidable, is of no protection at all when pitted against the skill and 
science of this class of rogues. When the massive bank vault offers no serious obstacles 
that the trained and experienced burglar cannot overcome, how can it be expected that 
the ordinary contrivances should be effectual. While the operations of the former class 
of criminals are comparatively few and infrequent, on account of the multiplied risks 
and difficulties to be encountered, the well organized army of sneak thieves and house- 
breakers carry on their operations with a confidence born of repeated success. 

Some housebreakers are daring and desperate rascals. These are the ones that 
enter dwellings in the night-time in search of plunder and with masks on their faces 
and murder in their heart. Sometimes night robberies are planned beforehand, but 
many have been committed at hap-hazard. From servants or others employed in or 
about a residence, confederates of these thieves collect the information they desire. 
The manner of entering the premises depends upon its Internal arrangements. In 
some cases the front basement door is entered by a false key, in others the rogues 
climb up the front of the house and enter the second -story window, and still in 
others an entrance is effected from the rear. Once Inside, the burglar ransacks the 
apartments in which he expects to obtain the most booty. He works expeditiously,, 
going through an occupied chamber as carefully as he would an unoccupied one. 
Often these criminals disturb the sleeper, but the latter is so frightened at the 
presence of the robber that he lies still and offers no resistance. Naturally house- 
breakers are not brave, and it is only when cornered they become bold and desperate 
in their anxiety to evade a long sentence. The noise made by rats has on more than 
one occasion scared burglars away from silverware worth hundreds and thousands of 
dollars, which they abandoned after collecting and packing up for removal. 

Three or four of these men have been known to band themselves together, but a 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 25 

desperate man would rather work on his own hook. " Long John " Garvey, who was 
killed by falling through a house in Brooklyn, a few years since, for years before his 
death took no one into his confidence, but planned and executed his own robberies. He 
gathered all the information that he desired from the columns of the morning news- 
papers. He made a specialty of robbing young married couples of their jewels and 
wedding presents. A marriage notice or a report of a wedding was the only news that 
Garvey wished to read, and he gloated over the announcement that the pair had received 
costly presents from their friends. When the robber ascertained where the pair had 
taken up house, either while they were off on their wedding trip or had returned to 
housekeeping, Garvey, by hiring an attic room on the same block, would pay them a 
midnight visit. He invariably secured the prize he was in quest of, but after a long 
career of thievery he died as most thieves do, a violent death. Becoming reckless at 
his successes, he undertook to ransack a house while in a state of intoxication. He 
secured property worth several thousand dollars, and as he was carrying it over the 
roof-tops he fell through a new building into the cellar. The groans of the thief 
attracted attention, and Garvey was found with the stolen jewelry in his possession. 
He was seriously injured and was removed to an hospital, where he died next day. 

Another well known housebreaker was in the habit of attending all the fashionable 
balls. He never went there for pleasure, but always on business. The rogue, with 
envious eyes, watched the ladies bedecked with expensive jewelry and wearing necklaces 
and pins set with brilliants. He had but little difficulty ascertaining the names and 
addresses of the wearers of the diamonds. When the ball was over he would, with the 
assistance of a companion, dog his intended victim to their homes. He would keep a 
constant watch upon the house or its inmates for several days, and if in the meantime the 
jewels had not been taken to a Safe Deposit vault, the robber would conclude that the 
lady was in the habit of keeping her valuables in the house. When the opportunity 
offered, the thief, under some pretext or other, would make his way into the premises 
in search of the diamonds or jewelry he had first seen in the ballroom, and he generally 
succeeded in getting them. 

The men who make it a business ransacking flats, first watch the occupants, and 
learning that a certain suite of rooms is rented by two or three persons reputed to be 
wealthy, they ascertain and note their habits. Should several of them pass the 
day at business, when the lady goes out shopping and the rooms are locked up, the 
thieves boldly enter the house, and, with the aid of a pick-lock, make their way into the 
apartments, which they ransack in the absence of the tenants. " Second-story " thieves, 
after locating a house that they intend to rob in the early evening, watch until the 
tenants in a private residence are down stairs at dinner. Then a young man, with the 
agility of a cat, crawls up the front of the dwelling, and enters the second-story window. 
He rifles all the rooms in the upper part of the house in a few minutes, and with the 
booty noiselessly descends the stairs and leaves the house by the front door. In several 
cases, however, the robber has been known to drop the property out of a front window 
to his confederates on the street. This is only done when he has become alarmed by 
hearing footsteps on the stairs, and is forced to retreat in the same manner that he had 
entered the premises. 



24 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Other thieves, who also pillage houses during the supper hour, pick the lock of the 
front door and steal in without making any noise. They wear rubbers or woolen shoes, 
and succeed at intervals in making large hauls. Private residences are easily plundered 
by these rogues during the summer months, while the occupants are in the country. 
Then there are the several types of sneaks who, under all sorts of pretexts, manage 
to get inside of a dwelling for a few minutes without attracting any attention, and 
remain just long enough to steal whatever they can lay their hands upon. Some of 
these go about as pedlers, piano tuners, health and building inspectors, book can- 
vassers, sewing machine, life and fire insurance agents, and in various other roles. 
They do not confine their operations to apartment houses or dwellings, but also rob 
business buildings in the daytime. Cash, jewelry, and valuables is the plunder most 
sought by the leading professional rogues of this class, but those of the lower grades 
seem to be satisfied with more bulky plunder. Young men make the most daring 
house thieves, but in the ranks may be found old criminals, who have passed the 
best years of their life operating in that way. 

The names of a number of those who are classed as the most expert sneaks and 
house workers will be found in the following list : 

David C. BHss, alias Doctor Bliss (2). — B. B. Bagley (163). — Jim Burns, alias Big 
Jim (165). — William Wright, alias Roaring Bill (174). — Charley Bennett (188). — 
George Bell, alias Williams (193). — Tom Biglow (see records of Nos. 20, 131). — 
Bill Bartlett (see records of No. 71 and George Wilkes). — Dan Hunt, alias George 
Carter (71). — John Curtin, alias Reynolds (169). — Henry Cline, alias Weston (177). — 
Joe Colon (178). — Tommy Connors (61). — Dave Goldstein, alias Sheeny Dave (30). 
— Dave Mooney, alias Little Dave (173). — Joe Dubuque (see records of Nos. 74, 12, 
and Sam Perry). — John Duffy (see record of No. 50). — Stephen Dowd (see record of 
No. 190). — C. J. Everhardt, alias Marsh Market Jake (38). — Charles Fisher, alias 
Purdy (41). — Billy Forrester (76). — Billy Flynn (see records of Nos. 3, 50, 95, 165). — 
Eddie Guerin (see records of Nos. 11, 187). — Andy Gilligan (see record of No. 13). — 
Tom Gorman (see record of No. 146). — Horace Hovan, alias Little Horace (25). — 
Robert Hovan (179). — William Hague, alias Curly Harris (196). — Charles Williams, 
alias Woodward, alias Hoyt (194). — John Jourdan (83). — Thomas Leary, alias Kid 
Leary (6). — Ned Lyman (102). — Sophie Lyons, alias Levy (128). — Freddie Louther 
(161). — Tip Little (172). — Matthew Lane (see record of No. 2). — Rufus Minor, alias 
Rufe Pine (i). — John Mahaney, alias Mahoney, alias Jack Shepperd (62). — Billy 
Morgan (72). — Tilly Martin, alias Pheiffer (125). — John McGuire, alias Shinny 
McGuire (155). — John Murphy, alias Riley (166). — Emanuel Marks, alias Minnie 
Marks (187). — Tommy Mulligan (see record of No. 8). — Joe McCluskey (see records 
of Nos. 8, 50). — Eddie McGee (see record of No. 169). — Joe Otterberg, alias Oatsey, 
alias Stern (69). — Tim Oats (136). — Johnny O'Brien, alias The Kid (see record of 
No. 22). — Phillip Phearson, alias Philly Phearson (5). — Joe Parish (84). — Paul Wilson, 
alias Little Paul (29). — John Price (see records of Nos. i, 9, 154). — Augustus Ray- 
mond, alias Gus Raymond (26). — Joe Real, alias Hoggy Real (67). — Ed. Rice, alias 
Big Rice (12). — Walter Sheridan, alias Ralston (8). — Frank Shortell (168). — Frank 
Stewart (see record of No. 12). — Christopher Spencer (see record of No. 69). — 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 25 

Charles H. Dorauss, alias Jack Strauss (see records of No. 92 and Sam Perry). — William 
Russell, alias The Student (see records of Nos. 136, 171). — John T. Sullivan (see 
records of Nos. 163, 168). — John Tracy, alias Big Tracy (28). — John B. Towle (106). 
— Bill Vosburg, alias Old Bill (4). — Joe Whalen, alias Wilson (65). — William Ogle, 
alias Billy Ogle (13). — Westley Allen, alias Wess. Allen (164). — Albert Wise, alias 
Jake Sondheim, alias Al. Wilson (203). — Theodore Wildey, alias The. Wiley (171). 
— John Larney, alias Mollie Matches (11). — Jim Brady, alias Big Jim. — James Hoey, 
alias Orr. 

See regular index for further information. 



26 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



STORE AND SAFE BURGLARS. 



A MAJORITY of the heavy store and safe burglaries perpetrated in this country- 
have been committed between Saturday night and Monday morning. Thus the 
cracksmen had plenty of time, a day and two nights, to wrestle with the intricate com- 
bination of a strong vault, or select, gather and pack up for removal the most costly 
goods. These rogues are but a grade below the bank burglar, and an expert store-safe 
robber is always looked upon as a most important acquisition by those men who band 
themselves together for the purpose of plundering the coffers of moneyed institutions. 
Some store burglars are men of fair education, but those who spend their lifetime 
operating in the lower degrees in that line are coarse and dull, still in planning and 
executing a theft they display.considerable shrewdness. Thieving to this class seems 
to be simply a natural trait, and they are not at all anxious to rise to the higher grades 
of crime. 

When the store-safe burglar ascertains that a certain business firm is in the habit 
of keeping a large sum of money in their safe he determines to rifle it. Before the 
establishment closes on Saturday, one or two members of the band manage to conceal 
themselves in an empty room or packing-box on the premises, and when the building 
has been closed for the night the men leave their hiding-place and admit their con- 
federates. The door is locked again and the cracksmen lose no time getting to work 
upon the stock or safe. These robbers vary in their manner of operating. Some 
prefer to steal silks or velvets, others have a fondness for silverware, jewelry and 
diamonds, and still others have a preference for only coin or greenbacks. The sort of 
plunder taken indicates the standing of the thieves. In the carrying off of bulky booty 
great risks are run, but the men who steal cash have but little to fear except discovery 
just as they are leaving the scene of their crime. This rarely happens, and should they 
be afterwards arrested for the burglary there is but little chance of ever legally fastening 
the offense upon them. The most reckless of the safe robbers use explosives, but the 
patient and careful operator either manipulates the combination or noiselessly wrecks 
the vault by leverage. The men who resort to explosives are known to their associ- 
ates as "blowers." They are daring and desperate fellows and acquainted with the use 
of the drill and high explosives. It is a hazardous undertaking to shatter a safe in a 
large city, for the noise which follows an explosion makes the " blower's " chances of 
success slim and detection many. In sleepy country towns, where there is no police 
patrol system, these men still manage, however, to make an occasional haul. 

The rattle made by a train on the Third Avenue Elevated railroad one nighty 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 27 

seven years ago, deadened the noise made by the blowing off the doors of two safes in 
a post-office station along that line. The noise made by the jolting of empty milk- 
cans on a cart, which was purposely driven through a down-town street, led to like 
results. In a neighboring city, but a few years ago, on a Fourth of July, a gang of 
"blowers" undertook to shatter a safe in a jewelry store, while a confederate was 
exploding several packs of large fire-crackers for the amusement of a number of 
children who had assembled in front of the place. Too large a charge of powder had 
been placed in the safe, and when the fuse had been ignited a tremendous explosion 
followed. The panes of glass were blown out of the front windows and the vault was 
badly wrecked. The explosion, which was louder than expected, instantly attracted 
attention, and the robbers ran away in the hope of escape. They were pursued and 
captured. 

The "breaker" requires in his work a number of tools, and as they are all made 
of the hardest steel, a complete outfit is quite expensive. He is generally a cool, 
calculating criminal, who quietly and deliberately perfects his plans, and, after securing 
the booty, takes great pains to destroy all evidence that might lead to his detection. 
With the aid of diamond-pointed drills he is able to bore holes into the hardest known 
metals. Through these small openings he inserts the pick, but if the lock cannot be 
sprung in that way, the cutter or crook of a ponderous jimmy is next inserted. Then 
the tearing begins, and the leverage being immense, the safe is unable to stand the 
strain and finally yields. Some of the leading store-safe burglars use tools known as 
the "puller" and the "hydraulic jack." A gang of "breakers" made many thousand 
dollars last winter robbing post-office and store safes in all parts of the country. Their 
manner of operating demonstrated that they were expert cracksmen. In all their 
robberies they drilled a small hole through the door of the safe near the combination, 
and through the narrow opening they inserted some instrument which never failed to 
slide the bolts back. The entire operation was marvelous for its neatness and dispatch. 

Concerning the doings of that class of criminals who make a business of manipu- 
lating combinations, this has been said of a successful offender at present serving out a 
term of imprisonment in an Eastern prison : " Give him but twenty minutes alone with 
a safe and he can open the most intricate lock that ever was devised, and if you will 
tell him merely the name of the safe maker, he will tell you instantly all the parts in 
the lock and give you a diagram of its mechanism. He never breaks a lock ; he simply 
finds out inside of twenty minutes the combination in which it sits, opens the safe, and 
takes out what he wants and relocks it, and when the owner returns he finds the safe 
apparently just as he left it. To accomplish his work he needs, in addition to his quick 
wit and mechanical knowledge, three ordinary wires, which he forces into the lock 
about the handle in such a way that the number of the combination is reduced to 
twenty-four. He reasons that all persons in locking a safe make a certain number of 
moves, and a knowledge of this fact enables him to further reduce its probable com- 
binations to two or three movements. These two or three movements he finds out by 
actual trial, which consumes the greater part of his twenty minutes. In the case when 
the safe is in an apartment that is in full view of the street, he drops a little quicklime 
on the floor, pours water on it, and the steam that arises effectually cloaks the windows. 



28 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

In three instances he unlocked safes, abstracted the contents, relocked them, and made 
off in the time that the men who were in charge of them were at their dinner," 

In several of the principal cities of this country there are old offenders who have 
tired of operating and occupy their time experimenting and teaching young thieves the 
art of safe robbing. These men are practical machinists who have learned the mysteries 
of the craft and the weak points of safes while in the employ of money-vault manufac- 
turers. They plan many, if not all, of the out-of-town jobs, sometimes months before 
they are executed. Upon a percentage of the proceeds of the nefarious work they are 
able to live well and keep beyond the reach of the law. They never permit any of their 
pupils to operate in the city in which they dwell, but direct their movements throughout 
the surrounding country. Whatever plunder the young rogues secure has to be con- 
verted into cold cash before they are allowed to return to their old haunts. There are 
other men who spend their time taking impressions of store locks, and for a duplicate 
key to a business establishment demand a percentage of the plunder. One of these 
men in a simple sort of a way, some years ago, made the robbing of a broker's safe 
quite an easy matter, and yet a deep mystery. He learned that the confidential clerk 
employed in the place was infatuated with gambling, and made his acquaintance at the 
green baize table. One night the crafty rascal said that he had forgotten his keys and 
was anxious to unlock the drawer of a desk in the place. On the top of the desk lay a 
sheet of blotting paper that had been saturated with water. He borrowed the bunch 
of keys from the unsuspecting clerk, and while the latter was interested in the deal the 
fellow pressed the flat part of the key into the blotting paper, and also pressed it side- 
ways. In that manner he secured a perfect impression of the key and also its thick- 
ness. Then he handed the keys back to the clerk, who thought no more of the matter. 
From the impression thus secured a duplicate key to the safe was manufactured, and 
with it, a month or so later on, the vault was easily plundered. A large haul was 
secured in that case, and for years suspicion pointed to the gambling confidential clerk 
as the thief. He was not arrested, however, and it was not until years after that the 
robber, while boasting about the theft, revealed the manner in which the duplicate key 
had been obtained. The clerk was then questioned, and he recalled the incident of 
loaning his keys to open a drawer in a desk in the gambling saloon. 

The burglars who steal velvets, silks and silverware, take considerable time plan- 
ning the robberies before they undertake the task of plundering the establishment. In 
some cases they scrape up an acquaintance with an employe, or send a confederate to 
price the most costly goods in stock. In that way they learn the shelf or shelves upon 
which the articles they are in search of are kept, and when at last they feloniously 
enter the premises they know just the place where they will find the most valuable 
goods. 

The names and aliases of a number of the most expert store and safe thieves will 
be found in the following list : 

John Anderson, alias Little Andy (see record of No. 63). — Martin Allen (see 
record of No. 164). — Thomas Kelly, alias Blink (66). — Fred. Benner, alias Dutch 
Fred (81). — Wm. Beatty, alias Burke (85). — James Burns, alias Big Jim (165). — Joe 
Rickerman, alias Nigger Baker (195). — Louis Brown, alias French Louie (204). — Oscar 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 29 

Burns (151). — Jimmy Brown (see record of No. 4). — Brummagen Bill (see record of 
No. 196). — Dave Cummings, alias Little Dave (50). — George Lockwood, alias Cully 
(75). — John Curtin (169). — Patsey Carroll (see record of No. 66). — James Campbell, 
alias Shang (107). — John Connors, alias Liverpool Jack (see record of No. 86). — Denny 
Carroll, alias Big Slim (147). — Jack Cannon (loi). — Daniel Watson, alias Dutch Dan 
(23). — Dave Mooney, alias Little Dave (173). — Pete Emmerson, alias Banjo Pete 
(90). — Charles Fisher, alias Purdy (41). — Billy Forrester (76). — Frank Russell, alias 
Little Frank (see record of No. 75). — Gustave Kindt, alias Marechal, alias French Gus 
iji). — John Green (see record of No. 80). — Fred. P. Grey (73). — Geo. Havill, alias 
Cook (15). — Robert Hovan (179). — Wm. Hague, alias Curly Harris (196). — Frank 
Reilly, alias Harrison (79). — Michael Hurley, alias Pugsey (88). — Geo. Hall, alias 
Porter (see record of No. 23). — Andy Hess (see record of No. 85). — John T. Irving, 
alias Old Jack (86). — Michael Kurtz, alias Sheeny Mike (80). — John Love, alias 
Wells (68). — Ned Lyons, (70). — Andrew McGuire, alias Fairy McGuire (78). — Thos. 
McCarty, alias Tommy Moore (87).— Eddie McGee (167).— John McMahon (170).— 
Bill Morris, alias Gilmore (see record of No. 23). — John McKeon, alias Kid McKeon 
(see record of No. 61). — Milkey McDonald (see record of No. 61). — Wm. Ogle, alias 
Billy Ogle (13).— Wm. O'Brien, alias Billy Porter (74).— Pete Lamb, alias Dutch Pete 
(181). — August Palmer (63). — Joe Parish (84). — Herman Palmer, alias Dutch Herman 
(189). — John Pettengill (198). — Wm. Pettibone (see record of No. 61).— Michael 
Quinn, alias Shang (82).— Joe Real, alias Hoggy Real (67).— Joe Otterberg, alias 
Oatsey (69).— John Tracy, alias Big Tracy (28).— John Talbot, alias The Hatter (see 
record of No. 66). — Joe Whalen, alias Wilson (65).— John Williams (see record of No. 
(24).— John Wilson, alias Dutch Chris, (see record of No. 80).— James Wilmont (see 
record of No. 80).— Gilbert Yost (see record of No. 74).— Westley Allen, alias Wess. 
Allen (164). 

See regular index for others. 



30 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



SHOPLIFTERS AND PICKPOCKETS. 



HOLIDAY week is the shoplifters' harvest. The ladyHke and gentlemanly pilferers 
of the city know this. They feel that Christmas comes but once a year, and 
before and after opportunities for spoliation are most abundant. So the shoplifter 
sallies forth and the pickpocket wends his way with keen eyes and ready hand among 
the throng — wends her way perhaps it should be put, for of the shoplifters who infest 
the city the large majority are females. There are various reasons for this. The work 
of shoplifting is comparatively easy, it is sometimes remunerative, and above all it is 
congenial. There are few ladies to whom the visitation of the shops and the handling 
of the wares are not joys which transcend all others on earth. And the female shop- 
lifter has that touch of nature left in her which makes a clothing store, variety bazaar 
or jewelry establishment the most delightful spot to exercise her cunning. 

In the last few years professionals of this order have wonderfully multiplied in this 
city, but their increase has been no more than commensurate with that of the metro- 
politan bazaars. That tells its own story. It is these very places which are most 
preyed upon and in which the temptation to larceny is most freely offered. The 
general exposure of the goods of the house on counter or on floor, the throng which is 
ever stirring about, the constant diversion for the eye or ear of watchers — all serve to 
prepare an easy way for the shoplifter. 

The clerk's duties are generally manifold. He has to take down and sort his wares 
for customers ; he has to answer a thousand idle queries ; he has to puff up the goods, 
summon the cash boy and see to the account and change, while all that time the 
throng are whirling past him, and he has no eyes for an individual lounger. Women 
who, above all others, infest these places cannot but see how ample are the chances 
offered them, and such as are of the light-fingered community, and even some who are 
simply not strong in resisting the temptations to which their sex are most subject, are 
only too liable to pick up some stray trinket or bundle they have been handling and 
walk away with it. During the holidays many a jacket and dolman, and many a 
sealskin sack as well, could tell a curious tale of the odds and ends that were huddled 
beneath it. 

It is true that articles of value are seldom captured by the shoplifter. It is 
generally pieces of dry goods, lingerie or cheap jewelry that are collected. But it is in 
the number of such petty larcenies that the losses to shopkeepers chiefly lie. Only 
recently a woman was arrested on whose person were found articles from nearly all of 
the variety stores on Broadway and Sixth Avenue. The ordinary female dress may be 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 31 

skilfully constructed so as to be an expansive receptacle for loot of all kinds, and the 
regular professional takes care that she is prepared for her trip with just such available 
provisions. That is how some of the stores where floor-walkers are employed are some- 
times boldly plundered. The shoplifter gathers in her booty, safely stores it, and if 
detected in picking it up she becomes indignant, boldly subjects herself to an immediate 
search and nine times out of ten the employ^, who is not familiar with criminal methods, 
misses the false pockets and is forced to admit the offender's innocence in spite of the 
evidence of his own senses. The cloak is also a useful article of attire for the shop- 
lifter, and record is kept of women who have concealed inconceivable quantities of 
goods under a sweeping outer garment. Large rolls of cloth, costly dresses and 
sealskin sacques have been withdrawn from such repositories, and it is remembered at 
the Central Office that one clever professional carried under her arms a number of 
articles of various sizes which it would puzzle a man to bear about with his outstretched 
arms. A woman was noticed on Fourteenth Street leaving one of the bazaars with 
a big dolman on her, and a moment later a clerk came out saying that a number of 
valuable bonnets were missing. A detective elbowed his way through the crowd and 
overtook the amply clad woman. He feared to make a mistake and subject himself to 
merited censure by making an improper arrest, so he conceived the ruse of stumbling, 
apparently accidentally, and raising up one of the suspected stranger's arms. The 
trick worked admirably. The arm went up like a flash, and the ground forthwith was 
strewn with bonnets. She had nearly $200 worth in the collection. 

Of course there are occasions when the shoplifter need not convert herself into a 
migratory storehouse. She sometimes has a confederate. She of the ready fingers and 
fluent tongue makes the circuit of the counters. The other presses along after her, 
gazing vacantly around and keeping severely distant from any of the wares exposed. 
When her confederate has slipped something out of sight she conveys it adroitly to the 
other, and the pair go on again. If the more clever operator be detected, no more than 
a single article will be found on her, and she can generally brazen her way out of its 
possession by alleging an absent mind or some distraction elsewhere in the store. 

There are generally but two classes of shoplifters — the regular criminal profes- 
sional and the kleptomaniac. The very poor classes seldom take a hand in it. Poverty 
is held by the world to be the badge of crime, and the poor slattern who enters a store 
is sure to be so carefully watched that larceny is next to impossible. The shoplifter is 
always a person of fair apparel and she generally has a comfortable home. If she be a 
professional she may be one of a criminal community and her home may be shared by 
some other engaged in equally evil ways. If she be a kleptomaniac — and in shop- 
lifting the word has peculiar significance — she is possibly a woman whose life in other 
respects is exemplary. It does seem strange that a wife and mother whose home is an 
honest one, who attends religious service regularly, and who seems far removed from 
the world of crime, should be so carried away by her admiration of some trinket or knick- 
knack as to risk home, honor, everything to secure it. But the annals of metropolitan 
offenses are full of instances of just this kind. It is the sex's fondness for finery that 
nine times out of ten gets them into trouble. A woman who has left a home happy and 
well provided for goes shopping. She buys the necessary article she first started to 



32 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

procure after a good deal of selecting and chaffering. Then she has time to look about 
her and goes counter-gazing. That is the fatal moment. Some taking article — it may 
only be a trifle — catches her eye and absorbs her. She has already spent the contents- 
of her purse, and she cannot honestly possess it. But the object every moment gains, 
new fascination. She must have it. Then comes the temptation. It is so exposed. 
There is no one about. It would be such a simple thing to take it and conceal it. 
Conscience stifled by cupidity is dormant, and the lust of possession is all that pos- 
sesses her. A moment more and the article is under her cloak, and all of a tremble 
she is edging away, half frightened, half regretful, yet wholly swayed by the securing- 
of the moment's idol. Then comes detection. Everything about her rises to betray 
her — her frightened glance, her sneaking attitude, the closer clutch she has upon her 
cloak. She is accosted, questioned, and then every thought of home, family and the 
disgrace that threatens rises before her, and she summons all the pluck there is in her 
poor, fluttering heart, and denies. 

Fatuous soul ! She forgets that the sanctity which a moment since surrounded 
her as an honest woman is now stripped from her. She is searched. The stolen article 
is found upon her, and she stands there drooping and despairing — a proven thief. 

Every year, repeated over and over again, is this sad scene produced. Kleptoma- 
nia is a by-word applied to Heaven knows how many forms of crime. But among the 
shoppers of New York there are more women who have had a passion for larceny bred 
in them than perhaps anywhere else in the world. 

Of the real criminal set of shoplifters there are some who extend their operations 
and embrace picking pockets in the part they play. They are a dangerous class, for at 
no place are opportunities for plying their arts more frequent than in a shopping 
bazaar. Attention is engaged by articles that have a greater lure for female eyes than 
anything else in the world. There is a constant excitement and ripple of conversation. 
Minds are full of purchases and heedless of pockets. Satchels and purses are laid care- 
lessly upon the counter. The shoplifter sees all this and is ready to act upon it. Not 
long since a lady placed on a counter beside her a well filled purse. A moment after 
she mechanically picked it up again and prepared to pay for a purchase. She opened 
it. There was a bundle of paper in it. She looked at it again. It was not her own, 
but one that had been adroitly substituted for it. 

An unusually cunning shoplifter successfully operated for several years by means 
of a scheme that he had devised himself. He traveled through England, France, and 
other European countries, leaving a trail of mysterious thefts behind him. Upon his 
return to the United States he was detected in the act of committing a robbery, and 
his plan was exposed. Cloth and silk houses were the scenes of his crimes. The fellow 
was aided in his thieving by a large-sized valise. The bottom of the bag, which parted 
in the middle, was hinged to the sides. Near the handle was a spring arrangement 
which connected with the movable bottom. The shoplifter was in the habit of entering 
a store while the clerks were engaged in the rear. Going boldly up to a counter he 
would seemingly carelessly set down his valise upon a pile of goods. As he did so he 
would spring the bottom, and thus bag a roll of silk or fine cloth. That done he might 
make a small purchase, or ask one of the clerks for the address of another firm in the 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. ^ 

same line of business. His appearance was such that it would not cause the slightest 
suspicion, and the thief, until his way of working was discovered, always managed to 
leave the store with his gripsack full of plunder. 

Two or three shoplifters have been known to enter large cloth dry goods or 
ostrich feather establishments in the morning just before business opening time, and 
while the porter or clerk was sweeping out. On some pretext or another one of the 
rogues engages the single guardian of the store in conversation, and invariably succeeds 
in luring the unsuspecting man to the rear of the place. This is the thieves' oppor- 
tunity, and when the porter's or clerk's back is turned to them the shoplifter's 
confederates are busy. In a twinkling they conceal whatever goods they are able to 
capture in false pockets upon their person. Then the first man tells his dupe that he 
will call again, and leaves the store after his associates. 

By what is known as " substitution," a few skillful male and female shoplifters 
occasionally succeed in making rich hauls. They operate solely in jewelry stores, and 
have a fondness for handling and pricing diamond rings and pins. A lapidary who 
manufactures paste rings and pins is next visited. He is employed to make a substitute 
for the piece of jewelry which the shoplifter intends stealing. A good description of 
the article wanted is furnished him, and it is soon finished. When the duplicate has 
been secured, two or three of the shoplifters acting in concert call at the jewelry store. 
While the diamonds are again being examined, the spurious article is deftly substituted 
for the genuine one. After an extended examination the supposed purchase is deferred, 
the case is returned to the safe, and it is often days before the fact is discovered that a 
costly ring or pin has been stolen and a paste one left in its place. The shoplifters 
who make a practice of stealing uncut diamonds sometimes substitute spurious stones 
to cover the theft. They have been known to swallow the gems, and when arrested on 
suspicion were able to escape conviction on account of the clever manner in which the 
trick was performed. This class of thieves are not numerous, and but few have operated 
in the metropolis within the last ten years. Of late they have plied their vocation 
with considerable success in several European cities ; and it is a well known fact that an 
ex-official of New York City went to Europe in connection with two of this class of 
thieves, and he is credited with receiving the proceeds of their plunder and shipping it 
to this country. 

But while the shoplifter's depredations have made people wary and led to consid- 
erable losses to the storekeepers — not so much from very costly articles, but from a 
quantity whose number aggregates a goodly sum — their practices have frequently led 
to the injuring of clear reputations and the subjecting of tender feelings to great suffer- 
ing. Most of the large jewelry establishments and great bazaars employ detectives, 
the rest floor-walkers. Many of these do not possess the intelligence and cunning they 
require, and deplorable mistakes occur. Ladies of position have time and again been 
accused of larcenies of which they were guiltless. And some really absent minded have 
carried some article away from the counter utterly unconscious of it. Of course it would 
require an adept in psychological arts to tell the really absent minded woman from the 
one who pleads it in extenuation of an actual crime, and that makes shoplifting and its 
consequences all the more deplorable. The guilty have again and again secured 



34 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

immunity from punishment by a well concocted story of forgetfulness. And, perhaps as 
often, the truly innocent has suffered for the guilty. 

There seems no immediate relief for this. But the employment of intelligent and 
discriminating watchers, and the painstaking investigation of cases of shoplifting are all 
that can be done to facilitate an apportioning of punishment to the offender, and the 
saving of the unintentional transgressor from the unhappy consequences of a moment's 
distraction. 

PICKPOCKETS. 

Pickpockets are an interesting class of thieves, and among the men and women who 
pursue that particular phase of crime there is much diversity of standing. The male 
operators all dress well and display considerable jewelry, but the females, while pillaging, 
generally appear in humble attire. Professional pickpockets are naturally great rovers 
and are continually traveling over the country to attend large gatherings. It is in 
crowds that these dexterous rascals successfully practice their nefarious calling. They 
are to be found one day among, the assemblage present at the inauguration of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, another at the funeral obsequies of some distinguished person, 
and the next at a country fair. A year ago members of the light-fingered fraternity 
flocked from all parts of the country to New York City, expecting to reap a rich harvest 
among the immense gathering at the funeral of ex-President Ulysses S. Grant. The 
perfect police arrangements, however, frustrated tlie plans of these rogues, and notwith- 
standing the fact that there were hundreds of thousands of people that day along the route 
of the funeral procession, not a single watch or pocket-book was stolen. Never before 
in the history of the Police Department had there been such a clean record. The day 
before the funeral all the professional pickpockets then in the city were arrested upon 
suspicion, and the police magistrates, when the precautionary scheme was explained 
to them, concurred in the flank movement against the rogues and held the prisoners. 
The alarm was then raised, and just as soon as the news had spread beyond the limits 
of the city, the hundreds of criminals on their way to New York gave up the project, 
left the trains and scattered in another direction. A few, however, who were 
reckless enough to attempt to reach the metropolis, found detectives awaiting them at 
the several depots. They were taken in charge and were kept safely housed at 
the Police Central Office, the various precinct station-houses and the Tombs prison 
until the funeral was over and all the strangers had departed for their homes. When 
there was no one to prey upon the disgusted rogues were liberated. The effort made 
to thwart the many bands of pickpockets upon that occasion was truly a bold one, but 
the end certainly justified the means. 

Of professional pickpockets there are several types, and their peculiarities and 
characteristics are imperfectly understood by the general public. Odd are the notions 
that some people entertain of the personal appearance of criminals of that class. Some 
believe them to be a forbidding and suspicious-looking set, but the photographs in this 
book will convince them that they are not unlike ordinary individuals, and that unless 
their faces are known, their appearance or dress would not excite curiosity. Still 
between the several classes of operators there is a vast and striking difference. The 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 35 

pickpocket, either male or female, who dexterously abstracts a purse or captures a 
watch or diamond pin on any of the principal thoroughfares, in a street car, train or 
church, does not in any way resemble the person who will perform the same operation 
in a side street or at an enthusiastic gathering. Various as are the dispositions of these 
robbers also are their methods in getting possession of a pocket-book or valuables. 
Those who seek only large plunder are entertaining conversationalists and easy in their 
manners. They are generally self-possessed fellows, and are dexterous and cautious 
operators. Women make the most patient and dangerous pickpockets. Humble in 
their attire, and seemingly unassuming in their demeanor, without attracting any notice 
or particular attention, they slip into an excited crowd in a store or in front of a shop- 
window. A quick eye or a delicate touch will locate for them without difficulty the 
resting-place of a well filled purse. That discovered, they follow the victim about 
until the proper opportunity presents itself and they capture the prize. Some- 
times they go off on thieving excursions in pairs, but an expert female pickpocket 
invariably prefers to work alone. The latter class are difficult to run down because of 
their craftiness and closeness. Men, after committing a large theft, are in nearly all 
instances extravagant . and reckless, but women have no such reputation. On the 
contrary, they are careful of the money they have stolen, and have been known to 
remain concealed for a long time. 

There is on record the case of a female pickpocket who after capturing a wallet 
containing many thousand dollars in greenbacks, aware that she was suspected, 
succeeded in eluding arrest until the only witness against her had died. The day 
following the robbery the woman, who was well advanced in years and was possessed 
of an excellent education, under an assumed name entered a religious institution. 
Being an apparently genial and good-natured person, and after telling a plausible and 
sad story of her unhappy marriage to a drunkard, she had no trouble in gaining admis- 
sion to the home. Her conduct there was exemplary, and in the course of a short while 
she was given an easy position. There she remained for months and years, but when 
at last she read of the death of the wealthy lady whose pocket-book she had stolen, the 
cunning pickpocket, aware that the danger of conviction for the larceny had passed, 
soon vanished from the home and returned to her old trade. There are other instances 
illustrative of the care with which women avoid detection that are on a par with the one 
mentioned. 

The pickpockets who pursue their calling under the cover of a shawl or overcoat 
carried carelessly over one arm, invariably the left one, take a seat in the car on the 
right side of the person they intend robbing, and operate under the coat, shawl, or 
newspaper. In case the pocket is high or too small to admit the hand freely, a sharp 
knife is used to cut the side of the dress or pantaloons of the victim. Others of the 
light-fingered fraternity wear light overcoats with the large pockets removed. Entering 
a crowded car, the thief, while standing up, selects a woman who, while paying her fare, 
has displayed a well filled purse. The man, when the opportunity occurs, carelessly 
laps his coat over her dress. Then by inserting his hand through the outside opening of 
his false pocket, quietly proceeds to do his work. Female pickpockets who operate in 
cars, stages and boats invariably use cloaks, which shield them while stealing. They press 



36 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

against the person whose pockets they are rifling, and the cloak completely hides the 
movements of their hands. 

Some expert pickpockets ply their vocation alone. One of this class succeeded in 
stealing a valuable timepiece from the vest pocket of a distinguished jurist some time 
since while the latter was viewing a procession from in front of a leadmg hotel. 
Another class of pickpockets are to be found in churches and at funerals. Women 
generally do the stealing, and they pass the plunder to their male confederates, who^ 
disappear with the watch or pocket-book the moment it has been captured. The men 
as a rule are old thieves who have lost their nerve and are unable to work themselves. 
Those that operate in conjunction with an assistant always require the latter to do the 
pressing or engage the attention of the intended victim while his pocket is being plun- 
dered. A " mob " is always composed of not less than three men working in harmony.. 
Just as soon as a watch or pocket-book has been stolen by one of these men the thief 
hands the plunder to his accomplices, who passes it to the third or fourth man, as the case 
may be. This style of thieving is to protect the rogue, and only yields small profits ort 
account of the number engaged in the crime. Should the victim discover on the spot that 
his pocket had been picked and cause the arrest of the robber standing alongside or in 
front of him, the failure to find the plunder upon the prisoner would create a serious 
doubt as to his guilt. Cunning old professionals, veritable Fagins, are the brains of 
these "mobs." They delegate a daring young man with quick hands to do the stealing, 
and the instant the purse, timepiece or jewel has been passed to them they disappear. If 
it is a purse that has been taken, it is promptly rifled and the " leather " thrown into an 
ash-barrel or sewer. The veteran first divides with himself the lion's share of the booty, 
and afterwards splits up the remainder with the other members of the gang. Serious, 
trouble resulting in bloodshed at intervals occur over quarrels concerning the spoils. 
Should a newspaper item announce that the stolen pocket-book contained a large sum 
of money when the leader of the gang had said he found but a few dollars in it, co- 
partnership would be dissolved by a sanguinary affray, the cause of which, for the 
protection of the others, would not be revealed. 

" Sidewalk committees " at the time of military parades or political processions 
have a couple of young men who are known as pushers. These go in advance of the 
thief and locate the whereabouts of the plunder for him. They rush and push to and 
fro in the crowd, or at a street crossing, jostling against every one they come in contact 
with advancing in an opposite direction. When the pusher discovers the pocket that 
plunder is sure to be found in, the fellow signals to the pickpocket indicating the victim 
and just where the purse or wallet is carried. Then the robbery follows. Some 
nervous people, while carrying large sums, betray themselves to a shrewd thief by their 
actions, and afterwards think it strange that the rogue should have known the very 
pocket that they had the roll of greenbacks in. If they had remained cool while riding 
in a car or passing through a crowd, and had not clapped their hand every few minutes 
on the outside of the pocket in which they carried the money, to feel if it was still 
there, they would doubtless have avoided their loss. Pickpockets, like other individ- 
uals, are not gifted with second sight, and watch for signs to guide them in their 
operations. If their mode of working was better understood by the public and 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. • ^-J 

properly guarded against, the vocation of the pickpocket would in a short time become 
unprofitable. 

The favorite method of robbery by the men who operate upon trains has been 
described in this way. When a mob of pickpockets start out to "work a crowd" on a 
train they break into twos. The part of one is to ascertain the location of his victim's 
money. He gets alongside the man whose pocket is to be picked, and with rapid 
movement he dexterously passes his fingers over every pocket. His touch is so deli- 
cate that it enables him to locate the prize, and to ascertain its character, whether a 
roll, a purse, or a pocket-book. The surging of the crowd, especially on a railroad 
train, accounts to the suspicious traveler for the occasional jostling he receives. It is 
found that the most common receptacle for the pocket-book is the left trousers pocket. 
When the victim is selected, the second man plants himself squarely in front of him, 
while the other crowds up behind him on the right side. The operator in front, under 
cover of a newspaper or coat thrown over his arm, feels the pocket, and if the victim is 
a straight-backed man, in standing position, he finds the lips of the pocket drawn close 
together. In such a case it is dangerous to attempt the insertion of the hand. A very 
low-toned clearing of the throat, followed by a gutteral noise, is the signal for his con- 
federate to exert a gentle pressure upon the victim's right shoulder. This is so gradu- 
ally extended that the traveler yields to the pressure without knowing it, and without 
changing the position of his feet. This throws the lips of the pocket conveniently open 
for the operator in front, who does not insert his hands to draw the book out, but 
works upon the lining. He draws it out a little at a time, without inserting 
his fingers more than half way. Should this process of drawing the contents of the 
pocket to its mouth be felt by the victim, another low clearing of the throat gives the 
sign to the confederate, and the game is dropped. If the victim's suspicions are not 
aroused, the pickpocket continues at his work of drawing the lining out until the roll of 
bills or pocket-book is within reach of his deft fingers. The successful completion of 
the undertaking is indicated by a gentle chirrup, and the precious pair separate from 
their victim to ply the same tricks upon the next one. 

The stealing of watches and pins is made a specialty of by the gangs of pickpockets 
who ride in street cars. In the taking of a timepiece the system of jostling and crowd- 
ing is resorted to while the " wire " (one who actually does the work) is stealing the 
watch. He raises the timepiece out of the pocket by means of the chain with his left 
hand, which is concealed by a coat or shawl. After the watch has been taken from the 
pocket the thief drops it into the palm of his right hand, and by a quick turn of the 
wrist the ring is twisted off. Another method is to resort to the usual jostling, and the 
man who actually does the stealing, when the opportunity presents itself, raises his left 
arm, which is generally covered by a coat or shawl, about as high as the victim's 
shoulders, while with the right hand he deftly abstracts the watch, letting it drop into 
palm of his hand. Then, with the use of the thumb and forefinger, he twists the ring 
from the watch. The chain, which is seldom taken, is quietly allowed to drop down, 
and usually the first intimation a person has that his watch is gone, is when the thief's 
victim's attention is called to his dangling chain. The moment that the timepiece has 
been stolen the man who takes it passes it to an associate, who leaves the car at once, 







8 • PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



and the others comprising the gang ride a square or two before getting out. Some 
people wonder how the pickpockets succeed in stealing a watch without first unscrewing 
the snap at the end of the chain, not knowing that the ring has been twisted out. 
To capture a diamond pin the method is slightly different. Rogues of that class 
while at work, it has been said, generally lift one arm above the height of the pin, and 
while the owner's attention is attracted by something started for the purpose, the jewel 
is abstracted by an exceedingly quick and clever movement of the thumb and forefinger 
of the other hand. As the pin starts from its place it is caught in the palm of the 
thief's hand, and before the owner has discovered his loss the jewel has passed out of 
the possession of the man who stole it. Persons carrying large sums of money or 
valuables should not allow their attention to be diverted by seeming disturbances 
or other distractions, as these occurrences are gotten up for the purpose of robbing 
them. 

The annexed list gives the names and aliases of a number of the leading profes- 
sional shoplifters and pickpockets whose records will be found in the book : 

Shoplifters. — Kate Armstrong, alias Mary Ann Dowd (132). — Annie Mack, 
alias Brockie Annie (130). — Jake Sondheim, alias Al. Wilson, alias Al. Wise (203). — 
Margaret Brown, alias Old Mother Hubbard (i 1 7). — Mary Busby (126). — Harry Busby 
(135). — Mary Ann Connelly, alias Irving (120). — Eddie Miller, alias Dinkleman (7). 
— Dave Goldstein, alias Sheeny Dave (30). — Sophie Elkins (see record of No. 128). — 
Eddie Kelly, alias Little Eddie (see record of No. 184). — Sheeny Erwin (182). — 
Louise Jourdan, alias Little Louise (131). — Julius Klein, alias Young Julius (191). — 
Lena Kleinschmidt (119). — Sophie Levy, alias Lyons (128). — Peter Lamb, alias Dutch 
Pete (181). — Rudolph Lewis, alias Young Rudolph (184). — George Levy, alias Lee 
(185). — Kate Leary, alias Red Kate (see record of No. 128). — Bell Little (see record 
of No. 172). — Eddie McGee (167). — Johnny Curtin, alias Reynolds (169). — Anna B. 
Miller (see record of No. 7). — Tilly Miller (see record of No. 38). — Andy McAllier (see 
record of No. 75). — Jack McCormack, alias Big Mack (see record of No. 184). — Billy 
Perry (175). — Walter Price (197). — Frank Watson, alias Big Patsey (see records of 
Nos. 184, 190, 191). — Christene Mayer, alias Kid Glove Rosey (118). — Nellie Barns, 
alias Bondy (see record of No. 130). — Grace Daly, alias Big Grace (see record of 
No. 130). 

See regular index for others. 

Pickpockets. — Jimmy Anderson, alias "Jimmy the Kid" (142). — Westley Allen, 
alias Wess. Allen (164). — Kate Armstrong, alias Mary Ann Dowd (132). — John 
Anderson (see record of No. 135). — Fred Benner, alias Dutch Fred (81). — Margaret 
Brown, alias Old Mother Hubbard (117).— Mary Busby (126).— Harry Busby (135).— 
George Harrison, alias Boston (144). — Thomas Burns, alias Combo (148). — Joe Rick- 
erman, alias Nigger Baker (195). — Oscar Burns, alias Harley (151). — George Bell, alias 
Williams (193). — William Brown, alias Burton (see record of No. 164). — Brummagen 
Bill (see record of No. 196).— Mary Ann Connelly, alias Irving (120). — Joe Gorman 

(146). — Jim Casey, alias Big Jim (91). — Mary Connors (see record of No. 139). 

Samuel Casper (see records of Nos. 152, 153). — Eddie Miller, alias Dinkleman (7). 

Dick Morris, alias Big Dick (141). — Thomas Price, alias Deafy Price (158). — Billy 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 39 

Darrigan (i8o). — William Dougherty, alias Big Dock (i86). — Joe Dubuque (see records 
of Nos. 12, 80, and Sam Perry). — William Davis (see record of No. 157). — Alex- 
ander Evans, alias Aleck the Milkman (160). — Tom Fitzgerald, alias Phair 
(139). — Bridget Fitzgerald, alias Phair (see record of No. 139). — Abe Greenthal, 
alias The General (152). — Herman Greenthal (153). — John Gantz (see record of No. 
81). — Molly Holbrook, alias Hoey (116). — Frank Reilly, alias Harrison (79). — James 
Johnson, alias Jersey Jimmie (145). — James Wilson, alias Pretty Jimmie (143). — William 
Kennedy (see records of Nos. 161, 194). — Louise Jourdan, alias Little Louise (131). — 
Sophie Levy, alias Lyons (128). — Terrence Murphy, alias Poodle (134). — George 
Milliard (138). — John McGuire, alias Shinny McGuire (155). — John Riley, alias Murphy 
(166). — Patrick Martin, alias English Paddy (133). — Frank Mitchell (see record of No. 
133). — Tommy Matthews (156). — Jimmy Murphy (see record of No. 150). — James 
Lawson, alias Nibbs (137). — Freddie Louther (161). — Timothy Oats, alias Tim Oats 
(136). — James Price, alias Jimmy Price (154). — Billy Peck (157). — William Perry (175). 
— Walter Price (197). — Kate Ryan (129). — Annie Riley (see records of Nos. 166, 171). 
— James Campbell, alias Shang Campbell (107). — William Scott, alias Scotty (183). — 
Bill Sturgess, alias Old Bill (see record of No. 22). — Edward TuUy, alias Broken Nose 
TuUy (140). — James Wells, alias Funeral Wells (150).— Alonzo Henn, alias Alonzo. 
— Charley Allen.— Charley Douglass, alias Curley Charley.— James Wilson, alias The 
Bald Face Kid. — James McKitterick, alias Oyster Jim. 
See regular index for further information. 



40 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



CONFIDENCE AND BANCO MEN. 



A 



GRASPING nature is a serious blemish that many men of standing and 
respectability unfortunately possess. The temptation to take a chance in a 
seemingly innocent lottery is one that can scarcely be resisted by people with the failing 
mentioned, and therefore the names of authors, politicians, divines, and even famous 
generals of America and Europe are to be found on the list of those who have been 
fleeced by confidence and banco operators. It is an innate desire on the part of the 
stranger to beat the sharper at his own game that leads the former on to his ruin. 
The accomplished operator hunts his dupe among those of high life, while an inferior 
set of these criminals select the ignorant and especially the gullible countryman for 
their victims. While the rustic may be a trifle suspicious in his dealings with thieves, 
men of culture and long experience, on the other hand, are easily taken in by the glib- 
tongued, nattily dressed young man, who shakes hands with them effusively on the 
street corners. The leading confidence and banco operators are an industrious set. 
They are also men of education, possessed of plenty of assurance, gifted with a 
good knowledge of human nature and a fair amount of ingenuity. The few who 
are proficient in all these attainments find no difficulty in helping themselves to other 
people's money. 

Their form of roguery has been said to be the safest, pleasantest, and most amus- 
ing way for a shrewd thief to make his livmg. There certainly must be a strange 
fascination about these methods of swindling, for in the ranks of the sharpers has been 
discovered an ex-Governor and many others, who have at one time figured in good 
society. These nefarious professions are divided up into specialties. Some ply their 
vocation in the vicinity of hotels and railroad depots, and others along the river front, 
particular attention being paid to steamers about departing for Europe. Of all the 
different types of rogues a successful confidence or banco man is the most accomplished ; 
they are really criminal callings that an unpolished man cannot attempt to follow. 
The success of the confidence game entirely depends upon the skill with which it is 
played, and in the selection of a victim all the powers of penetration of the cunning 
operator are brought into play. Few of the gangs of these men exceed four in number, 
and the majority of them do not exceed three. The operators are very careful in their 
personal appearance, and avoid anything remarkable in their dress, and endeavor to 
attain an easy respectability in effect, rather than the assumption of a man of fashion. 
Professional confidence men have more than once declared that a tinge of gray in their 
side whiskers would be a great advantage to them, and a bald head a fortune. The 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 4 1 

man who loiters about the offices and corridors of the principal hotels awaiting his 

prey, appears as the best-natured person in the world. He is invariably to be found 

with a smile on his face, and in moving out of the way of the guests and porters passing 

to and fro, politely bows at every turn. Eagerly he scans the freshly written name in 

the register, and when that has been secured he awaits the chance to practice his 

threadbare tricks upon the new arrival. He greets the latter in the street and in a few 

minutes gains his confidence. Then at a preconcerted signal a confederate appears 

upon the scene, who is either collecting or anxious to settle a bill. The first confidence 

man will then ask his newly-made friend to advance him the sum demanded for a few 

minutes, or else favor him for cash in lieu of a check. In ninety-nine out of every one 

hundred cases the stranger is anxious and happy to accommodate the confidence man. 

The money is handed over to the second operator and he quickly vanishes. Not long 

afterwards the affable hand-shaker disappears, and then the stranger discovers that 

the check he cashed is worthless, or that the money he loaned has gone forever. 

Those who operate on the river fronts or at railroad depots are invariably in search of 

a man to take charge of their stock farm, etc. ; the method of obtaining the victim's 

money varies as the circumstances require. These are a few of the numerous 

ways that the confidence man has of defrauding his victims. Their varied 

schemes have been exposed by the newspapers, and it seems strange that these 

men on that account should be able at all to eke out a livelihood. But it must 

be admitted that they do, and a good one too, and these rogues have been often heard 

to boast that a fool is born every minute, and that they are able to find more subjects 

than they can safely operate upon. A veteran confidence man who died recently in an 

Eastern prison, was credited with having made during his long career of swindling over 

a million dollars. His wonderful cheek and coolness may be best illustrated by the 

mention of the manner in which he twice succeeded in robbing the same man. Early 

in his criminal life the confidence man realized $30,000 upon some worthless notes 

which he induced a wealthy and casual acquaintance to cash. Thirty years later the 

sharper returned in the role of a penitent, and promised to make restitution to his old 

victim for his past misdeeds. So well did he manage to gain the confidence of his old 

friend anew, that in the course of a few days he again borrowed $3,000 on another set 

of worthless notes. 

It is in an out-of-the-way street that the banco men have the rooms where they 
practice their nefarious tricks. They generally hire a furnished apartment on a lower 
floor, and in nearly all cases there is no question as to the nature of the business they 
intend to carry on in the place. The payment of a week's rent in advance seems to 
satisfy the average landlord, and for the first week, at least, everything is all right. 
Probably the operators will only occupy the room for a day or two, having in the mean- 
time managed to fleece some one. When a suitable apartment and location has been 
secured the criminals are ready for business. The hand-shaker then sallies forth, and 
at the first opportunity grasps a prosperous looking stranger by the hand and exclaims : 
"Well, Mr. Brown, how are all my friends in Greenville?" The stranger, surprised 
with the good nature and unexpected friendliness of the reception, invariably responds: 
"You've made a mistake, sir. I'm Mr. Jones, of Austin, Texas." Then the roper-in 



42 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

apologizes, hurries off and reports to the steerer, who pulls a book out of his pocket 
and hunts up Austin. The book is what is known as a bank-note reporter, and gives a 
complete list of all the banks in the country. From the list the banco man finds that 
Mr. Thomas is the president of the Austin bank, and that Messrs. Black and White 
are among its directors. Then he follows Mr. Jones, accosts him in the street, shakes 
hands with him, calls him by name, and saying he is Mr. Thomas's nephew, asks about 
the health of the Blacks, Whites and other prominent people. The stranger is flat- 
tered by the attentions of the bank president's stylish nephew, and it does not take long 
to decoy him into the room where the boss banco man is waiting to play his part. 
There are desks and maps in the apartment which, to all appearances, is the ofifice of 
some commercial concern. The dupe is lured to the banco men's shop by the usual story 
about a book or a painting drawn in a lottery, then the cash prize and the rest of it. 
The stranger usually bites in a few minutes ; he is anxious to get $500 for $100; puts 
down his wad of bills, and the operators capture it, and he walks out in a brown study, 
not knowing exactly how he was done up, but quite sure he has been swindled. The 
banco men leave their office a minute or two after. The victim does not complain 
to the police, because he is ashamed to tell how green he was, and fears that if he 
makes any complaint the newspapers will learn of the robbery and then all his friends 
will hear of his experience in the metropolis. 

With a few slight changes " banco " is the old English game of " eight dice cloth," 
It was introduced into this country some thirty years ago by a noted sharper who oper- 
ated throughout the West. He re-christened the game lottery, notwithstanding 
the fact that there is no vestige of lottery about it at all. The old game with the new 
name is so simple, and apparently honest, that even the shrewdest are readily induced 
to take a hand, and are thus fleeced. There are forty-three spaces upon a banco 
lay-out ; forty-two are numbered, and thirteen contain stars also (no prizes) ; one is 
blank, and the remaining twenty-nine represent prizes ranging from two to five thousand 
dollars. The game can be played with dice or cards. The latter are numbered with a 
series of small numbers ranging from one to six, eight of which are drawn and counted, 
the total representing the number of the prize drawn. Should the victim draw a star 
number he is allowed the privilege of drawing again by putting up a small amount of 
money. He is generally allowed to win at first, and later on the game owes him from 
one to five thousand dollars. This is when he draws the conditional prize. No. 27. 
The conditions are that he must put up five hundred dollars, or as much as the dealer 
thinks he will stand. This is explained to him as necessary to save what he has 
already won, and entitle him to another drawing. He draws again, and by skillful 
counting on the part of the dealer he draws the " blank," and loses all. Sharp 
as was Oscar Wilde when he reaped a harvest of American dollars with his 
curls, sun-flowers, and knee-breeches, he could not refrain from investing in a spec- 
ulation against which he was "steered" by the notorious Hungry Joe. The latter 
boasted that his plunder amounted to thousands of dollars, and Oscar, when asked 
about it, maintained a painful silence. Another equally notorious character succeeded 
in swindling an Episcopal clergyman. The banco man handed the Rev. Mr. Blank a 
forged letter of introduction from another minister in Cleveland, whose name he had 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 43 

discovered in a church almanac. Mr. Blank said that he was glad to meet the Rev, Mr. 
Watts's brother. The letter read : " My brother is buying books for me. Please honor 
his draft for $ioo, and thereby do me a great favor." The preacher thought it was all 
right, and put up his check for $75 when it was asked for. 

Banco men seem to take a fiendish delight in outwitting men illustrious in all the 
walks of life. One of them, in conversation recently with a reporter, smilingly said : 
" The prettiest banco is when we land a big fish. Talk about trout-fishing ! Just think 
of the fun hooking a man that's worth anywhere from $500 to $5,000 ! Of course, it 
takes a man of education and refinement to do this sort of business, but there are 
several college graduates among our fellows." 

Many confidence and banco men who have been found loitering about the hotels 
and streets, waiting for victims, have been arrested as vagrants. When, however, a 
complainant comes forward, these offenders are vigorously prosecuted. The gold-brick 
swindle, which is fully described elsewhere, is really a part of the confidence game. 

The names of a number of the men foremost in the line of confidence and banco 
operators will be found in this list : 

Joe Bond, alias Paper Collar Joe (200). — Hod Bacon (see record of No. 94). — 
Charles Mason, alias Boston Charley (92). — Dr. J. E. Coons (see record of No. 122), 
— James Fitzgerald, alias Red Fitz (113). — Frank Hammond, alias Western Frank (see 
record of No. 91). — Tip Farrell (see record of No. 93). — George Gifford (see record 
of No. 99). — Bertha Heyman (122). — Charles Ward, alias Hall (104). — George Hall, 
alias Porter (23). — Joe Howe (see record of No. 91). — Joe Lewis, alias Hungry Joe 
(95). — Peter Lake, alias Grand Central Pete (93).— Edward Lillie (100).— Edward 
Lyman (102). — George, alias Tip Little (172). — Doctor Long, alias Pop White (94). — 
Edward Rice, alias Big Ed. Rice (12).— Dave Swain, alias Old Dave (99). — Ike Vail, 
alias Old Ike (10).— Jim Casey, alias Big Jim (91).— Joe Eaton (Gold Brick).— Nathan 
White, alias Nat White (Gold Brick).— Ellen Peck. 

See regular index for others. * 



44 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



RECEIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS. 



WITHOUT a safe market for his ill-gotten property the avocation of the rogue 
would be unprofitable. The buying of stolen goods is therefore not a crime of 
recent origin, but dates back to the very beginning of thievery. It is really the root 
of the evil, but the suppression of receivers of stolen goods in the State of New York, 
owing to existing laws, has been made almost an impossibility. Receivers have their 
grades and classes. Some make it a business to purchase bonds, securities, diamonds 
or silks. The receiver in the habit of handling stolen paper, could not be induced to 
risk a speculation in bulky plunder. These offenders are extremely careful in their 
negotiations with professional rogues. They seem to place but little faith in the word 
of a thief, and are naturally suspicious of all persons with whom they have any dealings. 
After a large robbery the burglars do not, as is generally supposed, cart the plunder 
to the house or store of the receiver. Instead, they quietly remove it to a safe place 
of storage in some neighboring city or town. The wives of criminals undergoing 
imprisonment are invariably the custodians of loot. The burglars have confidence in 
these women, and so have the receivers. The booty is conveyed to their apartments 
in trunks and does not attract any attention. When it has been placed in charge 
of the wife of an imprisoned confederate, the " fence " is notified and samples 
of the goods furnished. • Should the receiver desire an examination of the property he 
sends his trusted appraiser to look it over, and should it prove to be as represented, 
a settlement is effected and the trunks are reshipped to the rooms of another thief's 
wife. The latter's unlucky husband was perhaps a favorite with the receiver, and the 
woman is always a willing party to transactions of this sort. Receivers, while they 
rarely pay more than one-quarter of the value of the stolen article, run no risks. They 
never make a settlement with the thieves until the proceeds of the robbery have been 
removed a second time, and to a place the location of which the gang they are dealing 
with knows nothing about. There are two reasons why the purchaser is so careful. 
One is because he fears treachery at the hands of the robbers, and the other because 
he does not desire to incur any loss. In event of the stolen goods being seized in 
transit from the storage place of the thieves to that of the receiver, the loss falls upon 
the former. The reason why the rogues are kept in ignorance of the final hiding-place 
is to prevent them, should there be any bickering as to the price, from betraying the 
buyer. The simple testimony of the self-confessed thief that he sold the stolen goods 
to a certain person, would be of no value in a legal sense without the corroborative 
proof of the seizure of the plunder. On account of the receiver's guarded manner of 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 45 

doing business this is never possible, and the moment that the goods come into his 
possession all tags and marks that would lead to their identification are removed and 
destroyed. 

Under the cover of some legitimate business, receivers in the large cities are able 
to conduct their nefarious transactions without much danger of detection. To conceal 
their shady speculations they run a fancy goods or jewelry store, on apparently a square 
basis and in a business district. These are the class that purchase from shoplifters, 
pickpockets, and dishonest employes. To watch their patrons would be a task that 
would bear but little results. Persons known as professional criminals shun these places, 
and the men and women who sell the proceeds of their pilferings there are only petty 
thieves. .While seemingly purchasing some article, they are really making a bargain 
for Its sale, and never carry on their negotiations In the presence of a stranger. The 
goods bought under such conditions are never offered for sale In these places, but are 
disposed of to unscrupulous shopkeepers who delight in peddling them, and are all the 
time boasting of their honesty and, perhaps, quoting Scripture. 

There are many people to be found In cities who are constantly on the lookout 
for bargains, and possess a fondness for other people's property. To this class of 
receivers pickpockets and sneak thieves safely dispose of stolen watches and trinkets. 
The establishments of pawnbrokers, who advance loans on jewelry and clothing, are 
the places patronized by young rogues. Old rogues, by melting watch-cases, run but 
little chance of detection, and net quite a large profit by the sale of the metal to reputable 
firms. A smart receiver, who deals in stolen jewelry, as a rule makes it a habit after a 
purchase to reduce all small articles Into metal, just as soon as bought. The most 
annoying class are the second-hand dealers, who buy and sell stolen wearing apparel. 
They invariably have friends in another city, so that as soon as plunder has been 
bought it is shipped away to be disposed of elsewhere. 

All phases of crime excepting this one — the worst of all — are, in the State of New 
York, amply and clearly covered by the statutes. On more than one occasion the guilt 
of several persons, notorious as purchasers of the proceeds of robberies to the police 
and the public, has been morally certain ; still, in a legal sense. It was impossible to 
secure their conviction, because the law seemed to especially protect them from 
punishment. Among the many things to make out a case upon which a 
conviction might be expected, it is necessary to establish the fact that the receiver 
knew that the property he had bought had been stolen or appropriated wrongfully. 
This clause is therefore a serious stumbling-block in the way of prosecution, and serves 
as a shield for the buyer of booty, no matter how notorious he or she may be. All 
Indictments and trials In this section of the country must be framed and conducted in 
accordance with the provisions and requirements of the Penal Code. Chapter 550 
applies to receivers of stolen goods, and this section of the law was doubtless intended 
to put a stop to the buying of what thieves call " swag ; " but the peculiar construction 
of the statute has completely upset the intention of the law makers. The chapter 
mentioned Is as follows : 

" A person who buys or receives any stolen property or any property which has been wrongfully appro- 
priated in such a manner as to constitute larceny according to this chapter, knowing the same to have been 



46 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

stolen or so dealt with, or who corruptly, for any money, property, reward or promise or agreement for the 
same conceals, withholds or aids in concealing or withholding any property, knowing the same to have been 
stolen or appropriated wrongfully in such a manner as to constitute larceny under the provisions of this 
chapter, if such misappropriation had been committed within the State, whether such property were so stolen 
or misappropriated within or without the State, is guilty of criminally receiving such property, and is 
punishable by imprisonment in a State prison for not more than five years or in a county jail for not more 
than six months, or by a fine of not more than two hundred and fifty dollars, or by both such fine and 
imprisonment." 

The opinion of one of the leading prosecuting officers of New York City shows 
how difficult it is under the present law to establish the guilt of a receiver of stolen 
goods. What he has said on the subject, and the suggestions he has made, are inter- 
esting and important. They are as follows : 

"The law requires proof of guilty knowledge — that is, it must be proven to the satisfaction of a jury 
that the party receiving the goods knew at the time of their receipt that they were stolen. Such guilty 
knowledge must be proved by facts and circumstances, and it is difficult to collect such facts and circum- 
stances as will satisfy the jury beyond reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt. 

" Even where the thief himself becomes a witness for the State, it is the practice of the courts to warn 
the jury that it is unsafe to deprive a man of his liberty upon the unsupported testimony of either a confessed 
or a convicted criminal. 

" I am of the opinion that the law on this subject should be more stringent. It might, for instance, 
make it presumptive proof of guilt, sufficient, in the absence of explanation, to convict the defendant, that 
the goods were immediately after the theft found in his possession. There is, of course, a presumption to 
that effect as the law now stands, but it is only a presumption and is not sufficient to found a conviction upon 
unless the jury are satisfied from all the evidence beyond all reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty." 

If the suggestions of the learned prosecutor were embodied in the law, I feel 
satisfied that they would materially assist the authorities in ridding the community of 
this class of offenders. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 47 



TRICKS OF SAWDUST MEN. 



THE murder recently of a well-known sawdust swindler has had a detrimental effect 
upon the other men who made their living in the same way. The old methods 
had to be abandoned, but recent reports from all parts of the West show that they 
have flooded a good many towns with new circulars. The popular form of swindle, up to 
last August, was by working the " panel game." The first move of sawdust men is to 
secure the list of the names of people who were regular subscribers to lotteries and 
various gift-book concerns. People who go into those things will be pretty sure to 
bite on another scheme. When the list has been duly studied, agents are sent out all 
over the country to look up the history of the most promising ones. This done, a 
circular is mailed to each man, which runs something as follows : 

Mr. . 

Dear Sir : I will confide to you through this circular a secret by which you can make a speedy 
fortune. I have on hand a large amount of counterfeit notes of the following denominations : $1, $2, $5, 
$10 and $20. I guarantee every note to be perfect, as it is examined carefully by me as soon as finished, 
and if not strictly perfect is immediately destroyed. Of course it would be perfectly foolish to send out 
poor work, and it would not only get my customers into trouble, but would break up my business and ruin 
me. So, for personal safety, I am compelled to issue nothing that will not compare with the genuine. I 
furnish you with my goods at the following low price, which will be found as reasonable as the nature of 
my business will allow : ■* 

For $r,2oo in my goods (assorted) I charge f 100 

For 2,500 in my goods (assorted) I charge 200 

For 5,000 in my goods (assorted) I charge 350 

For ro,ooo in my goods (assorted) I charge 600 

Then follows advice to the verdant reader, impressing upon his mind that the 
gates of State prison are yawning for him, and that he must be very careful. He must 
send word two days before his expected arrival in this city, go to a hotel which is 
named and remain in his room until the manufacturer called upon him. This done, an 
agent sends up his card and devotes an hour to sounding the man, to see if he is fair 
game or an emissary from the police in disguise. If all promises well the man leaves, 
appointing the next day as the time for the bargain. On the day appointed the first 
caller drops in to the hotel and leads the stranger to the "factory." 

In a roughly furnished office, before a high desk at the wall, sits the principal 
operator, busily counting out a huge pile of crisp bills. They are fresh from the 
Government Treasury, and of all denominations. The countryman is introduced, 
explained the process by which the money can best be disposed of, and given general 



48 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

directions of how to avoid suspicion. Then the bills are exhibited. The man always 
protests that they are poor counterfeits and would never deceive him, but on the whole 
thinks they will do. The amount desired is carefully counted out and handed to the 
stranger to recount. They are then nicely done up in packages, each denomination by 
itself, and the whole carelessly tossed into a small leather gripsack. This done, the 
bag is laid on the top of the desk, while the "manufacturer" holds the attention of the 
stranger and lifts the lid of the desk in front of the bag. Half a dozen bonds are 
shown as a specimen of good counterfeiting, and the suggestion is made that after the 
money has been used the customer may take a fancy to handle some bonds also. 
While the two men are busy looking at the bonds, a confederate in the next room 
opens a slide or panel at the back of the desk and substitutes another satchel in the 
place of the one with the greenbacks. The customer is then handed the bag and 
hurries away, and the swindler closes up his office for a month or so and moves to 
another similarly equipped establishment. 

Since the panel trick became known the sawdust men have been forced to invent 
another device. Within the past few months they have issued a long circular, which 
contains a clipping supposed to be cut from a New York newspaper announcing that a 
full set of dies and plates has been stolen from the Sub-Treasury. This is the basis on 
which the circular is framed, and it claims that the writer has obtained stolen plates, 
from which the greenbacks are being struck off. The interesting circular ends with the 
following : " The slip will show you our officials in high standing have used them for 
their own purpose and benefit, and why not every one in need ? Address, in confi- 
dence," etc. 

The purpose of the letter is to lead the one addressed to believe that the money 
offered is really genuine, being printed from the plates claimed to have been stolen 
from the Treasury. The same old scheme of conducting a man to a hotel and then to 
the " office" is used, but the panel trick is no longer worked. Instead, the "beer" or 
"horse-car" game is made use of. In the first case the purchaser is introduced to the 
sawdust man on the street, and to conclude the bargain the party adjourn to the 
nearest saloon. Stepping into a private room they take seats at a table and the money 
is exhibited. This done, the amount demanded is paid, and as the operator rolls the 
" goods " into a little red package and snaps an elastic band around it he calls for beer. 
But before they are handed over the appearance of the waiter alarms the sawdust man 
and he drops the package into his lap, with a wink at the customer. While the beer is 
being brought another red package Is substituted from under the table, and the trick 
has been played. If the countryman is suspicious the greenbacks are dumped into a little 
leather satchel marked with a cut or scratch, and after being duly locked the key is 
handed to him. The party then board a car and in a few moments a clerical- 
looking gentleman gets on, and with a bag precisely similar in marks, etc., to the one 
containing the "goods." Of course the bags are changed and the purchaser is 
swindled. After the change has been made the sawdust men disappear. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 49 

Another scheme is explained by the following circular : 

New York, June 11, 1886. 

Dear Sir ; No doubt when you receive this letter you will say it is some trap set for you to get you 
into trouble ; but such is not the case. I promise you this, as true as there is a God in heaven, I obtained 
your name through a friend of mine who passed through your place, as this is all I know of you ; and on 
my solemn oath I speak the plain, candid truth ; and I swear before the Almighty God in heaven, my 
purpose is far from harming you either in word, look or action ; and should you make up your mind to 
answer this letter, I will give you my word and honor that no person, man, woman or child, shall ever hear 
from my mouth the least thing that ever passed between us, and I will keep this promise as sacred as I 
would my oath before God in heaven. 

I will be plain with you. I am dealing in articles, paper goods, is, 2s, 5s, los and 20s — (do you 
understand ?) I cannot be plainer until I know your heart is true to me, then I will send you full and plain 
particulars that I mean you right, and will satisfy and convince you that I can furnish you with a fine, safe 
and profitable article, that can be used in any manner and for all purposes, and no danger. Now under- 
stand me fair and square ; I ask no money in advance nor do I want it. I want to give you plain and 
positive proofs that, should I give you my assistance, I can and will help you out of any money or business 
troubles you may be in, and no matter to what extent ; and no power on the face of God's earth need ever 
be the wiser for it unless you betray me ; and as my intentions are square and upright to you, and as I 
never have or will harm you by word, look or action, I ask you before heaven, as a man of honor and 
principle, not to expose or betray me. And if I have made a mistake in sending you this letter, I ask you 
to forgive me, and let the matter rest where it is, for my intentions are as upright to you as heaven itself, 
for a man can have honor and principle no matter what his business may be in this world, so do not harm 
me, for my motto in this life is and always has been, if you can't do a fellow-being some good, do him no 
harm, no matter what his calling may be. 

Now a word of advice in regard to this business. There are some unprincipled men in this city 
advertising goods the same as mine. But before God and man they are far from it. They will send you 
circulars and promise all kinds of things, and should you be foolish enough to send them money, that is the 
last you will hear of them or your money, and there are other firms here dealing in green goods of a very 
poor quality and not safe to handle. Now I am not writing this letter through malice or selfishness to get 
your trade, but to warn you against them should you at any time receive their circulars (as these people 
have their agents going from one State to another, getting storekeepers' names, and in fact names of people 
in all kinds of business), and should make up your mind to write and place confidence in me, with a view 
of trading with me, I will take it as matter of honor and strict friendship between us, if you will notify me 
if these people send their circulars to you, as I will prove they are not reliable men to trade with, and this 
is the Almighty God's honest truth, as I am the only person who can furnish you with a safe and profitable 
article that will stand a critical test, and I will prove each and every promise I have given you before I will 
expect or receive one dollar. 

I will as a test of honor and confidence on your part request the return of this letter. I will then 
know you mean me no harm, for I will not answer any communications unless it is returned to me. 

I will not deviate from this rule, and on my sacred oath and honor, before God and man, I will return 

yours. 

Yours in honor and friendship. 

Since 1869, the sawdust business has grown and prospered. The operators work 
carefully, their only fear being lest some detective be entrapped. The police have 
tried over and over again to get at the swindlers, and although they are known it is 
next to impossible to obtain proof against them. The victims refuse to appear against 
them, for the very fact of having had dealings with the sawdust men closes their mouths, 
for fear the transaction would be made pubHc. In this way the sawdust business 
goes on. 



50 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



FRAUDS IN HORSE SALES. 



SHARPERS who sell worthless animals at fabulous prices constitute a class of 
criminals often exposed. They keep barely within the letter of the law, and so 
escape punishment. When some one remarked that a man would cheat in a horse trade 
who would scorn to steal an umbrella, he showed a deep knowledge of the ethics of the 
human family. Light and trivial though the latter offense may be, judged by the great 
American race, it is weighty indeed when compared to that of driving a sharp bargain 
over a roadster or racer. " Trust neither your brother nor your pastor if he is trying 
to sell you a horse," is the wisdom of a man of experience who has learned the 
irresistible temptation which lies in the mouth of the man with a horse to sell. 

Dishonest horse dealers flourish in New York. They are the confidence operators 
of the horse trade, and are not to be confounded with the dealers who may 
neglect to point out some of the defects of their living stock in trade. Their purpose 
is robbery pure and simple, with just enough tinge of trade in it to give it a color of 
respectability and to keep out of State prison. They conduct their business much after 
the fashion of the banco men, sending " steerers " out to the railroad stations, the 
ferries, and the big horse sales, to bring unsuspecting countrymen to their lairs. They 
also reach victims, like the fortune=telling cheats and many other forms of metropolitan 
swindlers, through the advertising columns of the daily newspapers. 

It is not difficult to pick out the advertisements of the skin dealers, or " gypsies," 
from any issue of the newspapers. The favorite dodge is the " death of the owner," 
or the "family going to Europe" pretext for selling a magnificent animal for a song. 
Here is a sample advertisement which may be regarded with suspicion : 

" A family going abroad will sacrifice immediately very speedy roadster and stylish, gentle family 
horse ; also quiet pet horse, used by ladies ; lady's phaeton, sidebar top buggy, extension top family phaeton, 
harness, etc., in superb order. Owner's private stable. " 

The oft-repeated announcement of a firm well known to the police reads as follows : 
" A bargain to immediate purchaser — handsome pair coach mares, tender in the feet, suitable for 

country use, f6o for both ; 3 strong young horses, suitable for general business use ; price from $50 to f 100 

each ; sold separately ; trial allowed. Owner's private stables. " 

It will be seen that great leeway is allowed here for infirmities of almost any 
character. 

Perhaps it is a lady who has a turnout to sell, and who will conduct the negotiations 
through a trusty " groom " in her own private stables, or a gentleman suddenly called 
out of town. They may be expected to woo you in some such wise as these : 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 5 1 

"A lady offers her turnout for sale ; handsome cob, 15 hands, seven years old, warranted sound and 
kind ; elegant top phaeton, harness, etc.; sold separate." 

"A gentleman suddenly called away must sell a beautiful brown horse, 16 1-4 hands high; fast 
traveler ; safe and perfectly sound ; suit family, doctor, coupe or business." 

There is nothing suspicious in the language of these offers, and man or woman 
in search of a bargain will find nothing suspicious in the commodious stable to 
which he is directed or in the glib-tongued, horsey-looking man he finds there. The 
rascals simply use the machinery of a reputable business to carry on their nefarious 
operations, trusting to the always good crop of credulous individuals to furnish them 
with a supply of victims. 

The confidence game, which is often worked in the "skin stables," is as old as the 
hills. While the agent of the wealthy owner, gone to heaven or to Europe, is engaged 
in showing off the " points " of his racer, a confederate rushes in and displays uncommon 
anxiety to purchase the horse. 

" No," says the agent, " you are a dealer and my principals will not allow me to 
sell to a dealer. The horse is too valuable. You know very well that they do not care 
for the money. What they wish is to be assured that the animal falls into good hands." 

Pretty soon the alleged " dealer " gets an opportunity to whisper to the victim a 
word of temptation. 

" I must have that horse," he says ; " if you will buy him for me I will give you $50 
commission ; but don't give me away to the agent." 

Tickled to death over this opportunity to make money so easily, Mr. Greenhorn 
swallows the hook, line, bob and sinker ; purchases the horse and leads him away to a 
specified corner where he is to meet the " dealer." Needless to say, this worthy does not 
appear, and the victim finds himself most unwillingly possessed of a piece of rope with 
something in the shape of a horse at the other end of it. As a party to a little deception 
he has no case against the man who sold him the worthless animal. 

The police wage constant war upon these stables, and often make things very 
uncomfortable for the owners, but the latter are so well grounded in the law and so 
careful to keep inside the legal fence in their transactions that the police are heavily 
handicapped in trying to deal with them. 

" Horse sharps," although frequently arrested, are rarely convicted. The last 
conviction was on May 28, 1881, when Samuel Watson was sent to Sing Sing prison 
for two and a half years. Jeremiah W. Strong, a Justice of the Peace of Hartford, 
Conn., bought an elegant roadster from Watson at a stable on Fifteenth Street, 
near Sixth Avenue. Strong started to drive away, but the animal, on reaching 
the corner of Fourteenth Street, dropped dead. Watson was convicted, but his 
brother swindlers made up a big purse and carried the case to the Court of Appeals. 
That court finally decided against him. 



52 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



WHY THIEVES ARE PHOTOGRAPHED. 



WHERE, it does not matter, but in a place of amusement which blazed with light 
and was radiant with the shimmer of silks, the flash of jewels, and the artificial 
glories with which wealth and fashion surround themselves, a tall, well dressed man 
was standing, with a lady on his arm, waiting till the outgoing throng gave him exit. 
There was a judge of the Supreme Court just behind him, and he was elbowed by a 
banker whose name is mighty on " the street." Suave manners, a face massive and 
intelligent, apparel in unexceptionable taste — he had them all, and yet there was 
something about the man that recalled to a reporter who saw him there, other and 
strangely remote associations. It certainly was not the dress or attitude or air that 
seemed familiar. Nor was it the quick, sharp eyes that lighted and seemed indeed the 
most notable features of the countenance. Nor could it be the neatly trimmed 
whiskers or the somewhat sallow cheeks they covered. No, it was none of these. And 
certainly no suggestion of recognition could lie in the thin hair, carefully brushed back 
from a forehead that bulged out into two knobs and was crossed by some deep lines. 
But yet as that same forehead was bowed for a moment, what was there in it that 
recalled something — a man or a statue or a picture ? Something that memory certainly 
did not bring to mind as the seat of a living man's brain, a part of a living man's face ; 
but something that had been seen fixed, immovable, with unchanging profile and 
unvarying lines. 

In a moment the head was erect again, the face smiling, and in the change the 
fancied familiarity melted, but did not die away. It was still there, and for a moment 
it was intensified as a sudden look of recognition, a look that had a flash of malice in 
it, came into the sharp eyes. But without any salutation being given they dropped, 
and the face was turned away. This passed almost in the fraction of a second ; but 
the reporter noticed the look and turned to see where it was directed. What he saw 
quickened his interest. A man was standing near the entrance watching the very face 
which had caught his attention. And this man was a Central Office detective. 

" That man's face seems familiar to me," remarked the reporter, indicating the 
retreating figure. " You know him, do you not ?" 

" I ? Yes, I know him." 

" I wonder where I have seen him." 

" He is seen sometimes about town." 

" But I think I've seen him under some peculiar circumstances." 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 53 

" He has been visible under peculiar circumstances," said the detective. " He is 
a professional criminal, and was last sentenced for burglary." 

A burglar ! This prim, genteel, thoughtful looking personage .? He would be a 
minister or merchant or physician on the first flash to nine men out of ten. Here in 
the flare of the gaslight, in the heart of fashion, with a judge at his back and a 
millionaire at his elbow — a burglar ? Not low browed, sullen, with stealthy glance and 
hunted air — not at all as fancy and romance have pictured him. But holding his head 
as high as the next. And with that, memory, faithful to the impression that bulging 
forehead and its deep lines had wrought, raked out of the past a wooden frame in a 
mysterious chamber and a picture it enclosed of a bowed, distorted face, through whose 
half closed eyelids two small specks seemed to glare maliciously, and a forehead with 
two knobs and some black lines upon it. That was it. The picture was this man's 
portrait, and the mysterious chamber where it hung was the Rogues' Gallery. 

Sitting there the next day the reporter spoke of the impression made by the 
picture, and how, amid surroundings so misleading and under appearances so altered, 
the bowed forehead and its dark lines in the gallery of malefactors had flashed out 
in the gay and fashionable throng, calling attention to their owner, as Cain's mark 
had done of old. The conversation which ensued is correctly given by the reporter in 
the following words : 

" In that," said Inspector Byrnes, "does the usefulness of the Rogues' Gallery lie. 
There are people who look at the pictures and say : — ' Of what good can these twisted 
and unnatural faces be ? Were their owners met in the streets their countenances would 
be composed. They would be altogether free of these distortions, by which they have 
tried to cheat the purpose of the police in photographing them. No one would know 
them then.' Well, that is all wrong. The very cleverest hands at preparing a false 
physiognomy for the camera have made their grimaces in vain. The sun has been too 
quick for them, and has imprisoned the lines of the profile and the features and caught 
the expression before it could be disguised. There is not a portrait here but has some 
marked characteristic by which you can identify the man who sat for it. That is what 
has to be studied in the Rogues' Gallery — detail. A general idea of the looks of a 
person derived from one of these pictures may be very misleading. The person himself 
will try to make it so by altering his appearance. He can grow or shave off" a beard or 
mustache, he can change the color of either, he may become full faced or lantern jawed 
in time. But the skilled detective knows all this and looks for distinguishing marks 
peculiar to his subject. You understand me. It was a forehead drew your attention. 
The lines of the forehead would probably be a detective's study in that burglar's case. 
It did not matter much what disguise he assumed. That feature would remain a 

tell-tale." 

" Have detectives frequently succeeded in singling out by their portraits men who 

have tried to deceive the camera ?" 

" Quite frequently. The very men who have gone to the most trouble to make 
their pictures useless have been betrayed by them. Look at ' Pop ' Tighe, over there, 
with his phiz screwed up like a nut-cracker ; he thought that he could play the sneak 
without any one getting on to him from that likeness. But he made a mistake, like 



54 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

the rest. So did ' Bill ' Vosburgh, and even ' Jim ' Reynolds, who is grinning down 
from the corner there, with his head away back and his features all distorted, could 
not get the best of the sun, and the camera caught enough of him to satisfy his victims." 

" Then the pictures must not be considered merely as portraits when a criminal is 
to be identified by them ? " 

" In some cases they are quite sufficient. You see there is not much of that old 
dodge of distorting the features attempted nowadays. When we have a man with a 
strong case against him he knows that his portrait in some shape or other must be 
added to the gallery, and he is shown that it is absurd to try and defeat the purposes 
of justice. That makes him resigned to his fate, and all our recent artistic acquisitions 
are good ones. A point is made to have the best we can get, for of late photography 
has been an invaluable aid to the police. In the Federal service and in all the big 
cities they are following our example. But this is probably the most complete 
criminal directory in the country. I say in some cases because there are numbers 
of instances where a criminal appears in public under circumstances far different 
from those under which he is brought here. You yourself have seen what a swell 
cracksman may look like when he has the means and the taste to dress himself. 
Well, there are scores of men and women whose appearance in the streets gives no hint 
to their character. Deception is their business, and they have to study its arts carefully. 
It is true there are criminals brought here who even in sitting for a photograph in the 
Rogues' Gallery show a weakness to appear to advantage. I have seen women especially 
whose vanity cropped out the moment the muzzle of the camera was turned on them. 
But that is infrequent, and you must look for the faces you see here in other shapes and 
with other accompaniments when you catch sight of them in public." 

" Do the general run of offenders, then, put on style ? " 

" They all have their weaknesses. Of course the lower class of them spend their 
money in the way their instincts dictate. Some are slovenly hulks of fellows who pride 
themselves on shabbiness. To some shabbiness is a part of their business. Then there 
are others of the flashy order who run into extremes in dress, and copy the gamblers 
and variety theatre performers in their attire. But there are many — and they are of 
the higher and more dangerous order of criminals — who carry no suggestion of their 
calling about with them. Here Is where the public err. Their idea of burglars and all 
that have been gathered from books, and they look for Bill Sykeses and Flash Tobby 
Crackltts, whereas the most modest and most gentlemanly people they meet may be 
the representatives of their very characters. Remember that nearly all the great 
criminals of the country are men who lead double lives. Strange as It may appear, it 
is the fact that some of the most unscrupulous rascals who ever cracked a safe or 
turned out a counterfeit were at home model husbands and fathers. In a great many 
cases wives have aided their guilty partners in their villainy, and the children, too, have 
taken a hand In it. But in as many all suggestion of the criminal's calling was left out- 
side the front door. There was George Engles, the forger. His family lived 
quietly and respectably, mingled with the best of people and were liked by all they met. 
George Leonidas Leslie, alias Howard, who was found dead near Yonkers, probably 
made away with by his pals, was a fine-looking man, with cultured tastes and refined 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 55 

manners. ' Billy ' Porter and ' Johnny ' Irving were not so spruce, but they would pass 
for artisans, and Irving is said, in all his villainy, to have well provided for his old 
mother and his sisters. 'Johnny the Greek' paid for his little girls' tuition at a convent 
in Canada, and had them brought up as ladies, without ever a suspicion of their father's 
business reaching them. I know this same thing to be done by some of the hardest 
cases we have to contend with. One of the most noted pickpockets in the country 
had children whose dress and manners won them general admiration. There is nothing 
to mark people of that stamp as a class." 
" Is physiognomy any guide?" 

" A very poor one. Judge for yourself. Look through the pictures in the 
Rogues' Gallery and see how many rascals you find there who resemble the best people 
in the country. Why, you can find some of them, I dare say, sufficiently like personal 
acquaintances to admit of mistaking one for the other. By the by, that is no uncommon 
occurrence, and the more you consider it the more readily you will come to appreciate 
how easy it is for a detective to pick up the wrong man. Time and again I have seen 
victims of thieves when called upon in court to identify a prisoner seated among a 
number of on-lookers pick out his captors, or a court clerk, or a reporter as the 
offender." 

" Is it usual for criminals to be so trim ?" 

" No, not many of them. You see thieves must dress up to their business. I do 
not mean that they should indicate their business by their dress. No, no ; just the 
opposite. They attire themselves so as to attract the least attention from the class of 
people among whom they wish to operate. To do this they must dress like this class. 
If they are among poor people, they dress shabbily. If among well-to-do folks, put on 
style. If among sporting men, do the flash act. It is a great thing to escape notice, 
and some men have a good deal of trouble to do it. There is ' Wess.' Allen. The scar 
on his cheek and the missing eye would mark him anywhere, but he manages to be so 
sober in his dress that no one notices him. ' Deafy ' Price, a railroad pickpocket, is a 
capital fellow for gaining confidence and leaving scant recollection of his dress and 
features. Kehoe, ' the Mourner,' and his wife had faces thoroughly adapted for their 
business, which was to pick pockets at wakes and funerals. They were the most 
solemn looking pair you ever saw." 

" You then consider the popular idea of criminals' appearance is all wrong ?" 
" I will not say that. River thieves and low burglars are as hard-looking 
brutes as can be found. So are a good many of the more desperate fellows. ' Ned ' 
Farrell, the butcher-cart thief, is a type of the bully — big and brawny and wicked- 
looking. ' Big Frank' McCoy had all the inches he required, but although there was a 
sinister flavor about him, he could look the gentleman. Nugent, the Manhattan Bank 
burglar, carried a good deal of his old business of a butcher about with him in his 
appearance, but there was something about him that suggested the criminal. There are 
numbers of the confidence men, too, who in spite of their gentlemanly dress and con- 
versational powers, look the very incarnation of sharpers. In fact, it is a bad thing to 
judge by appearances, and it is not always safe to judge against them. Experience of 
men is always needed to place them right." 



DESCRIPTIONS AND RECORDS 



OF 



Professional Criminals of America. 



RUFUS MINOR, alias RUFE PINE. 

BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-eight years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 5^ inches. Weight, 160 pounds. Brown hair, gray eyes, 
round face, dark complexion. Very bald. Has a clerical appearance at times. Can 
grow a heavy beard (dark brown) in a short time ; generally wears it when committing 
crime, and removes it shortly after. Has a dot of India ink on the back of left hand. 

RECORD. 

RuFE Minor, alias Pine, is no doubt one of the smartest bank sneaks in America. 
His associates are Georgie Carson (3), Horace Hovan (25), Johnny Jourdan (83), Billy 
Burke, alias " Billy The Kid" (162), Johnny Carroll, alias "The Kid" (192), Emanuel 
Marks, alias Minnie Marks (187), Big Rice (12), Mollie Matches (11), Billy Flynn, Big 
Jim Burns (165), Charley Cummisky, George Howard, alias Killoran and other 
clever men. He is a very gentlemanly and intelligent man, and is known in a number of 
the principal cities. He is no doubt one of the best generals in his line; he comes of a 
good family, and it is a pity he is a thief. 

Minor was arrested on March 23, 1878, at Petersburg, Va., in company of George 



58 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Carson, Horace Hovan, and Charlotte Dougherty (Horace's wife), charged with the 
larceny of $200,000, in bonds and securities, from the office of James H. Young, No. 49 
Nassau Street, New York City, on January 2, 1878. They were all brought north, on 
a requisition, but no case was made out against them, and they were discharged. 
He was arrested again in New York City on November 14, 1880, with Johnny Jourdan and 
Georgie Carson, charged with the larceny of a tin box containing $8,500 in money and 
$56,000 in bonds from the vault of the Middletown Savings Bank, at Middle- 
town, Conn., on July 27, 1880. Horace Hovan, who was previously arrested in this 
case, was taken to Connecticut. Minor, who was not identified, was held in New 
York City, charged with being the party who stole $28,000 in bonds from a safe in 
the office of Merritt Trimbal, in the Coal and Iron Exchange Building on Courtlandt 
Street, New York, on October 15, 1879. The bonds were found in possession of the 
Third National Bank of New York City, having been hypothecated by a noto- 
rious bond negotiator and insurance agent. No case was made out against Minor, 
and he was discharged. Rufe Minor and Billy Burke are credited with obtaining 
$17,000 from the Commercial National Bank of Cleveland, O., in the fall of 1881. 
Burke was arrested in this case in Buffalo, N. Y., but Minor escaped. Minor was no 
doubt the principal man in the following robberies : the First National Bank, of De- 
troit, Mich., $3,200; the Middletown National Bank of Connecticut, $73,500; Bank 
of Cohoes, N. Y. (attempt), $100,000; Brooklyn (N. Y.) Post-office robbery, $3,000; 
Providence (R. I.) Gas Company robbery, $4,000 ; Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit 
Company's vaults, at Philadelphia, Pa., $71,000; Rufus Rose Insurance Agent's safe, at 
Albany, N. Y., $3,800; the Safe Deposit vaults on State Street, Boston, Mass, $25,000; 
the Bank of Baltimore, Md. (bonds), $12,000. Minor was also credited with 
sneaking $114,000 in bonds from the Erie County (N. Y.) Savings Bank, on April 30, 

1882. The bonds were returned to the bank by a well known Baltimore lawyer, who 
received $25,000 for them. 

He was arrested again in New York City on June 25, 1883, and delivered to Marshal 
Frey, of Baltimore, for the larceny of $12,000 in bonds from the Bank of Baltimore, 
on September 25, 1882. For this he was tried and acquitted by a jury on November i, 

1883. Minor and Johnny Price were arrested in Boston, Mass., on February i, 1884, 
and given one hour to leave the city. He was arrested again in New York City on 
June 28, 1884, for the authorities of Augusta, Ga. Minor, Price and Billy Coleman 
sneaked a package containing $2,700 in money from a bank safe in Augusta, Ga. 
Billy Coleman and Price were arrested two days afterward, tried, convicted, and 
sentenced to seven years each in State prison, on May 7, 1884. Minor was taken to 
Augusta and discharged, as he could not be identified as the third party in the robbery. 

He was arrested again in New York City on January 12, 1886, charged with the 
larceny of $130 from the pocket of one Samuel Henze, in the office of the "Evening 
Journal," in Jersey City, N. J. He gave the name of William Jackson, and was taken 
to New Jersey by requisition on January 17, 1886. In this case he was tried in the 
Hudson County (N. J.) Court, and acquitted on April 21 1886. Minor's defense was an 
alibi. See records of Nos. 9, 25, and 83. 

Rufe Minor's picture is an excellent one. 




RUFUS MINOR, 

ALIAS RUFE PINE, 

BANK SNEAK. 



DA]/ID 0. BUSS. 

ALIAS DOCTOR BLISS, 

SNEAK. 



GEORGE CARSON. 

ALIAS HEYWOOD, 

BANK SNEAK. 




WILL/AM VOSBURG, 

ALIAS OLD BILL, 

BANK SNEAK AND STALL. 



PHILLIP PHEARSOIV, 

ALIAS PHILLY PHERSON, 

BANK SNEAK. 



THOMAS LEARY. 

ALIAS KID LEARY, ALIAS BRIGGS, 

BANK SNEAK. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 59 

DAVID BLISS, alias DOCTOR BLISS. 

SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-nine years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Doctor. 

Slim build. Height, 5 feet 8 3^ inches. Weight, 135 pounds. Light colored hair, 

turning gray. Gray eyes, long face, light complexion. Has a hole on the right side of 

his forehead. 

RECORD. 

The " Doctor " has a fine education, and is a graduate of a Cincinnati Medical 
College. He is a southerner by birth, and at one time held a prominent government 
position. He was caught stealing, however, and was sentenced to a long term of 
imprisonment. Through the influence of his friends he was pardoned, but again drifted 
back to evil ways. He is pretty well known in most of the eastern cities, and is 
considered a very clever sneak thief. 

He was arrested in New York City on the arrival of the steamer Providence, of the 
Fall River Line, from Boston, on December 21, 1880, in company of one Matthew Lane, 
another thief. They had in their possession a trunk containing $2,500 worth of 
silverware, etc., the proceeds of several house burglaries in Boston, Mass. They were 
both taken to Boston by requisition on December 31, 1880, and sentenced to two 
years each in the House of Correction there. 

Bliss was arrested again in New York City on April 7, 1883, for the larceny of a 
package containing $35,000 in bonds and stocks from a safe in an office at No. 757 
Broadway, New York City. After securing the package of bonds he started down stairs, 
and on his way dropped into another office, the door of which was standing open, and 
helped himself to $100 in money that was lying on one of the desks. All of the 
bonds and stocks were recovered, after which the " Doctor " pleaded guilty, and was 
sentenced to two years in Sing Sing prison on April 12, 1883. His time expired on 
January 1 1, 1885. 

Bliss's picture is an excellent one. 



3 
GEORGE CARSON, alias HEYWOOD. 

BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-one years old in 1886. Born in United States. Clerk. Can read and 
write. Married. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 5^ inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Hair, 



6o PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

brown. Eyes, hazel. Complexion, florid. Dot of India ink on right hand. Blonde 

color mustache, 

RECORD. 

Carson is a very clever bank sneak, an associate of Rufe Minor (i), Horace Hovan 
(25), Johnny Carroll (192), Cruise Cummisky, and other first-class men. He was arrested 
at Petersburg, Va., on March 23, 1878, in company of Rufe Minor, Horace Hovan, alias 
Little Horace, and Charlotte Dougherty (Horace's wife), charged with the larceny of 
$200,000 in bonds and securities from the office of James H. Young, No. 49 Nassau 
Street, New York City. They were all brought to New York, and subsequently dis- 
charged. 

Carson was arrested in New York City on November 15, 1880, for robbing the 
Middletown Bank of Connecticut, on July 27, 1880, of $8,500 in money and $56,000 in 
bonds. Johnny Jourdan, Horace Hovan and Rufe Minor were also arrested for this 
robbery, Carson was tried in Connecticut, proved an alibi, and the jury failed to agree, 
and he was discharged on April 26, 1881. He then traveled around the country with 
Charley Cummisky, alias Cruise, and was picked up in several cities, but was never con- 
victed. He was again arrested in Brooklyn, N. Y., on August 2, 1883, with Billy Flynn 
(now in jail in Europe), and committed to the penitentiary for vagrancy. He was dis- 
charged on a writ by the Supreme Court on September 11, 1883. Carson and Flynn 
were seen in the vicinity of Raymond Street Jail on the night of July 31, 1883, when Big 
Jim Burns, the Brooklyn Post-office robber, escaped. This celebrated criminal has 
been concerned in several other large robberies, and has been arrested in almost every 
city in the United States and Canada. He is now at liberty, but may be looked for at 
any moment. Carson's picture is a very good one, taken in 1885. 



WILLIAM VOSBURG, alias OLD BILL. 

SNEAK AND STALL. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Fifty-seven years old in 1886. Born in United States. Can read and write. 

Married. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weight, 170 pounds. Hair, dark, 

mixed with gray. Gray eyes. Light complexion. Generally has a smooth-shaven 

face. 

RECORD. 

VosBURG is one of the oldest and most expert bank sneaks and "stalls" in America, 
and has spent the best portion of his life in State prisons. He was formerly one of Dan 
Noble's gang, and was concerned with him in the Lord bond robbery in March, 1886, 
and the larceny of a tin box containing a large amount of bonds from the office of the 
Royal Insurance Company in Wall Street, New York, several years ago. Vosburgwas 
arrested in New York City on April 2, 1877, fo"" the Gracie King robbery, at the corner 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 6 1 

of William and Pine streets. He had just returned from serving five years in Sing Sing 
prison. In this case he was discharged. On April 20, 1877, he was again arrested in 
New York City, and sent to Boston, Mass., for the larceny of $8,000 in bonds from a 
man in that city. He obtained a writ in New York, but was finally sent to Boston, 
where they failed to convict him. On June 10, 1878, he was arrested in New York City, 
charged with grand larceny. On this complaint he was tried, found guilty, and sen- 
tenced to fifteen months in the penitentiary, by Recorder Hackett, on December 28, 
1878. He did not serve his full time, for on May 3, 1879, ^e was again arrested in New 
York City, with one John O'Brien, alias Dempsey, for an attempt at burglary at 406 
Sixth Avenue. In this case he was admitted to bail in $1,000 by the District Attorney, 
on May 17, 1879. The case never was tried, for on September 23, 1879, he was again 
arrested, with Jimmy Brown, at Brewster's Station, New York, on the Harlem Railroad, 
for burglary of the post-office and bank. For this he was tried, convicted, and sen- 
tenced to four years in State prison at Sing Sing, on February ig, 1880, under the name 
of William Pond, by Judge Wright, at Carmel, New York. Brown never was tried. 

After his release he claimed to be playing cards for a living, when in fact he was 
running around the country "stalling" for thieves. He was arrested in Washington, 
D. C, on March 4, 1885, at President Cleveland's inauguration, for picking pockets. 
Through the influence of some friends this case never went to trial. He then started 
through the country with Johnny Jourdan (83), Philly Phearson (5), and Johnny Car- 
roll, alias The Kid (192). On April i, 1885, the party tried to rob a man in a bank at 
Rochester, N. Y., but failed. They followed him to a hotel, and while he was in the 
water-closet handled him roughly and took a pocket-book from him, but not the book 
with the money in it. Phearson and Carroll escaped, and Vosburg and Jourdan were 
arrested, and sentenced to two years and six months each for assault in the second 
degree, by Judge John S. Morgan, on June 15, 1885, at Rochester, N. Y. 

Vosburg's picture is a good one, taken in March, 1885. 



5 
PHILLIP PHEARSON, alias PHILLY PEARSON, 



alias Peck. 
BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty- four years old in 1886. Height, 5 feet 5^ inches. Weight, 135 pounds. 
Hair mixed gray. Eyes, blue. Complexion, sallow. Ink marks: Eagle wreath, Amer- 
ican flag, square and compass, an Odd Fellow's link, also "J. Peck," with face of woman 
underneath the name, all the above on left fore-arm ; star and bracelet on left wrist ; 
star between thumb and forefinger of left hand ; figure of woman on right fore-arm ; 
above the elbow is a heart, with "J. P." in it; shield and bracelet with letters " W. D." 
on same arm. 



62 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

Phearson, or Peck (which is his right name), is one of the oldest and smartest 
sneak thieves in this country. He has obtained a good deal of money in his time, for 
which he has done considerable service in State prisons. He comes from a respectable 
Quaker family of Philadelphia. 

Phearson, Chas. Everhardt, alias Marsh Market Jake (38), and George Williams, 
alias Woodward (194,) were arrested in Montreal, Canada, in 1876, for sneaking a 
package containing $800 in money from a safe in that city. Williams gave bail and 
jumped it, and Phearson and Everhardt stood trial, and were sentenced to three years 
and six months in prison. On June 16, 1879, shortly after his release in Canada, he 
was arrested in New York City for the larceny of a $1,000 4-per-cent bond from a clerk 
of Kountze Brothers, bankers, in the general Post-office building. To this offense he 
pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three years and six months in State prison, on 
June 26, 1879, under the name of George W. Clark. Phearson was again arrested in 
New York City in October, 1885, for the larceny of $85, on the till-tapping game. 
He claimed to be a health officer, and while he had the proprietor of the store in the 
yard, his accomplice carried away the drawer. For this offense he was tried, convicted, 
and sentenced to five years in State prison by Judge Cowing on November 5, 1885, 
under the name of Daniel Kennedy. 

Phearson's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1885. 



6 

THOMAS LEARY, alias KID LEARY, 

alias Briggs, alias Walter H. Kimball. 

BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty years old in 1886. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Dark red hair. 

Eyes, bluish gray. Complexion, light. Born in New Orleans. Weight, 120 pounds. 

Married. 

RECORD. 

" Kid" Leary, alias George R. Briggs, was arrested in New York City on October 
24, 1877, in company of Langdon W. Moore, alias Charley Adams, charged with being 
implicated in the robbery of the Cambridge National Bank of Cambridge, Mass., Sep- 
tember 26, 1877, when bonds and securities amounting to $50,000 were stolen. He was 
not returned to Massachusetts in this case, for lack of identification, but was held in 
New York for the larceny of a trunk containing -gold and silver jewelry. The facts 
were that on May 12, 1877, the firm of Ailing Brothers & Co., of Worcester, Mass., 
shipped a trunk containing $9,000 worth of jewelry from Worcester to Hartford,' Conn., 
to their agent, who discovered that the checks had been changed and the trunk stolen. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 63 

It was traced from Hartford to a New York hotel, and from there to Baltimore, Md., 
where it was found empty. Leary was identified as the party who received the trunk 
at the hotel and shipped it to Baltimore. A portion of the contents was found in the 
house where Leary was arrested, in New York City. His case was set down for trial 
on November 8, 1877, but was adjourned until November 20, 1877, when he was con- 
victed and sentenced to five years in State prison for the offense. See record of No. 26. 

Leary was again arrested in Baltimore, Md., on Octobers, 1881, charged with rob- 
bing the South Baltimore Permanent Mutual Loan and Savings Association. He was 
found guilty and sentenced to five years in State prison on October 21, 1881, under the 
name of Walter H. Kimball. Allowing him his full commutation time, he was dis- 
charged on December 21, 1885. 

His picture is a good one, taken some eight years ago. He has filled out more now. 



7 
EDWARD DINKELMAN, alias EDDIE MILLER, 

alias Hunter, alias Bowman. 

PICKPOCKET, SHOPLIFTER, AND HOTEL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-one years old in 1886. Born in Germany. Height, 5 feet 4 inches. Stout 
build. Dark hair, dark eyes, round face, dark complexion. Dresses well, and is very 
quick in his movements. Weight, about 150 pounds. 

RECORD. 

Eddie Miller, the name by which he is best known, is a celebrated New York 
shoplifter. He generally works with his wife, Anna B. Miller. He is also a clever 
sneak, and occasionally turns his hand to hotel work. He was in prison in Chicago, 
Syracuse, and Canada, and is known in all the principal cities of America. 

Miller was arrested in New York City on March 23, 1880, for the larceny of three 
gold chains, valued at $100, from a jewelry store at 25 Maiden Lane. For this offense 
he pleaded guilty in the Court of General Sessions, New York, and was sentenced to 
two years in State prison on April 16, 1880, under the name of William Hunter. After 
his conviction and sentence he asked to be allowed to visit his home, on Sixth Avenue, 
for the purpose of getting some clothes and giving his wife some instructions in relation 
to his affairs. An officer of the court was sent with him, and while the officer was 
speaking to Miller's wife, Miller sprang through an open doorway, cleared a flight of 
stairs in a few jumps, reached the street, and escaped. He was afterwards arrested in 
Chicago, 111., and returned to New York to serve his sentence. 

Miller was arrested again in New York City for grand larceny, and sentenced to 
ten years in State prison, on May 16, 1884, under the name of William Bowman. His 
time will expire on September 16, 1890. Miller's picture is a very good one. 



64 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

8 

WALTER SHERIDAN, alias RALSTON, 

alias Keene. 

BANK SNEAK, FORGER AND COUNTERFEITER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-five years old in 1886. Born in New Orleans, La. Married. No trade. 
Height, 5 feet 73/^ inches. Weight, about 165 pounds. Light brown hair, dark eyes, 
Roman nose, square chin. Generally wears blonde whiskers. He is a good-looking 
man, and assumes a dignified appearance. 

RECORD. 

Walter Sheridan is an accomplished thief, a daring forger, bank sneak, hotel thief, 
pennyweight-worker and counterfeiter. He is also one of the most notorious criminals 
in America. Among his aliases are Stewart, John Holcom, Chas. Ralston, Walter 
Stanton, Charles H. Keene, etc. When a boy, Sheridan drifted into crime and made 
his appearance in Western Missouri as a horse thief. He finally became an accom- 
plished general thief and confidence man, but made a specialty of sneaking banks. In 
1858 he was arrested with Joe Moran, a noted Western sneak thief and burglar, for 
robbing a bank in Chicago, 111., and was sentenced to five years in the Alton, 111., 
penitentiary, which time he served. He was afterwards concerned in the robbery of 
the First National Bank of Springfield, 111., with Charley Hicks and Philly Phearson 
(5). Sheridan engaged the teller. Hicks staid outside, and Phearson crawled through 
a window and obtained $35,000 from the bank vault. Hicks was arrested and 
sentenced to eight years in Joliet prison. Philly Phearson escaped and went to 
Europe. Sheridan was arrested in Toledo, O., shortly afterwards with $22,000 in 
money on him. He was tried for this offense but acquitted. He next appeared in a 
"sneak job" in Baltimore, Md., in June, 1870, where he and confederates secured 
$50,000 in securities from the Maryland Fire Insurance Company. After this he 
secured $37,000 in bonds from the Mechanics' Bank of Scranton, Pa. He was also 
implicated and obtained his share of $20,000 stolen from the Savings and Loan Bank 
of Cleveland, O., in 1870. He was arrested in this case, but secured his release by 
the legal technicalities of the law. 

Sheridan's most important work was in the hypothecation of $100,000 in forged 
bonds of the Buffalo, New York and Erie Railroad Company to the New York Indem- 
nity and Warehouse Company, in 1873, for which he obtained $84,000 in good hard 
cash. It took months to effect this loan. He took desk room in a broker's office on 
the lower part of Broadway, New York, representing himself as a returned Californian 
of ample means. He speculated in grain, became a member of the Produce Exchange, 
under the name of Charles Ralston, and secured advances on cargoes of grain. 
He gained the confidence of the President of the Indemnity and Warehouse 



8 




EDWARD DINKLEMAN, 

ALIAS EDDIE MILLER— HUNTER — BOWMAN, 
PICKPOCKET, 

SHOP LIFTER, AND HOTEL THIEF. 



WALTER SHERIDAN, 

ALIAS RALSTON — KEENE, 

BANK SNEAK, FORGER, AND 
COUNTERFEITER. 



WILLIAM COLEMAN, 

ALIAS BILLY COLEMAN, 

BURGLAR AND BANK SNEAK. 



10 



n 



12 




IKE VAIL, 

ALIAS OLD IKE, 

CONFIDENCE, 



JOHN LARNEY, 

ALIAS MOLLIE MATCHES, 

BANK SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



EDWARD RICE, 

ALIAS BIG RICE, 

CONFIDENCE AND HOTEL SNEAK. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 65 

Company, telling him that his mother in California had a large amount of rail- 
road bonds which she wanted to obtain a loan upon, to buy real estate. Sheridan 
gave him the bonds ($125,000), and received a certified check for $84,000, which 
he cashed at once and divided with his accomplices, Andy Roberts, Valentine Gleason, 
and Charles B. Orvis ; after which he and Martha Hargraves went to Europe, taking 
with them 200 of the same $1,000 forged bonds to place in the European market. 

They went to Switzerland, and put up at the house of a well known English ticket- 
of-leave man. In their absence, one day, the daughter of this ex-convict stole the bonds 
from Sheridan's trunk. When accused of the theft she said that she heard that the police 
were coming to the house to search it, and had burned them, when in fact she had given 
them to her father, who afterwards realized considerable money from them. Sheridan 
and Martha returned to America, and Sheridan was shortly after arrested in Washing- 
ton, D. C, for this forgery, brought to New York, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 
five years in Sing Sing prison, for forgery in the third degree, on March 6, 1877. 
Roberts and Gleason were also arrested in this case, and were confined in Ludlow Street 
Jail, New York, for years. 

Sheridan was an associate of Horace Hovan (25), Johnny Jourdan (83), Billy 
Burke (162), George Carson (3), Tommy Mulligan, Joe McCloskey, Dave Cummings 
(50), and other first-class men. 

Sheridan was arrested again in Philadelphia, Pa., for a "pennyweight job" — a box 
of diamonds — and sentenced to three years in the Eastern Penitentiary and fined $500, 
on October 6, 1881. His time expired early in 1884. 

He was arrested again in St. Louis, Mo., on November 19, 1884, under the name 
of John Holcom, by the United States authorities, for having three counterfeit $500 
bills in his possession, and sentenced to two years in State prison in the latter part of 
November, 1884. 

See record of George Wilkes, also. 

Sheridan's picture is a good one, taken in 1876. 



9 
WILLIAM COLEMAN, alias BILLY. COLEMAN. 

BURGLAR AND BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. Slim 

build. Height,-5 feet 11^ inches. Weight, 155 pounds. A fine, tall, smooth-faced 

fellow. Brown hair, blue eyes, fair complexion; wears a No. 9 shoe. Has W. C. and 

N. Y. in India ink on right arm, slight scar on the right side of face, mole in the centre 

of his back. 

RECORD. 

Billy Coleman was born in New York, and is well known in all the principal cities 
in America, especially in Chicago, where he has lived. 



66 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

He was arrested in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and sentenced to Sing Sing prison for 
five years, on October 14, 1869, for burglary in the third degree. He escaped from 
Sing Sing on a tugboat on August 17, 1871. After his escape he went South, and was 
convicted and sentenced to three years in Pittsburgh, Pa., and served his time in the 
Western Penitentiary. 

He was arrested again in New York City for attempting to pick pockets, and 
sentenced to one year in the penitentiary in the Court of Special Sessions, New York, 
on January 22, 1876, under the name of Thomas Moriarty. After his discharge he 
went West, and the record shows that he was arrested in Chicago, III, and sentenced 
to one year in Joliet prison on March 9, 1882. His time expired in January, 1883. 

Coleman then started around the country with Rufe Minor (i) and Johnny Price, 
sneaking banks. Coleman and Price were arrested in Augusta, Ga., on March 26, 1884, 
for sneaking a package of money, $2,700, from a safe in that city. After abstracting 
$150 from the package and dividing it, Coleman, Rufe Minor and Price parted for 
a few days. Two days afterwards Price and Coleman were arrested, and shortly after- 
wards tried and convicted ; they were sentenced to seven years in State prison each on 
May 7, 1884. Rufe Minor came north and was arrested in New York City on June 
28, 1884, and taken to Augusta, Ga., by a requisition. Coleman has been arrested 
and convicted of several other robberies throughout the country, under aliases. This 
fact makes it difficult to give data correctly. 

He still owes time in Sing Sing prison, N. Y. 

His picture is a good one. 



10 
ISAAC VAIL, alias OLD IKE 

CONFIDENCE. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Fifty-one years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Slim build. 
Height, 5 feet 11 inches. Weight, 178 pounds. Gray hair, brown eyes, light complex- 
ion, gray whiskers. Generally wears a goatee. A tall, thin, gentlemanly-looking man. 

RECORD. 

Ike Vail is well known from Maine to California. Of late years he has confined 
himself to the eastern cities, and the confidence man may be seen almost any mornino- 
around railroad depots or steamboat landings in search of victims. He has done service 
in several prisons, and his history would fill an ordinary sized book. I will simply o-ive 
one or two of his later convictions, to assist in convicting him should he fall into the 
meshes of the law again. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 67 

Vail was arrested in New York City on February 20, 1880, for swindling one Levi 
P. Thompson, a Justice of Peace of Evensville, Minn., out of $60, by the confidence 
game. He pleaded guilty in this case, in the Court of General Sessions, New York 
City, and was sentenced to eighteen months in State prison by Judge Cowing, on 
February 26, 1880. 

Vail was arrested several times afterwards in Boston, New York, and other cities, 
and again in New York City on August 30, 1885, for attempting to ply his 
vocation on the steamer Glasgow, lying at Pier 20, North River. For this 
offense he was sentenced to six months in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, on a 
complaint of vagrancy, as he had obtained no money from his victim. He was, how- 
ever, discharged by Judge Van Brunt in the Supreme Court, on a writ on September 4, 
1885. 

Vail's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1880. 



11 

JOHN LARNEY, alias MOLLIE MATCHES. 

PICKPOCKET, BANK BURGLAR, ETC. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-seven years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 160 pounds. Brown hair, hazel 
eyes. Wears a No. 7 shoe, and generally wears a full dark beard. He has two upper 
teeth out on right side ; also a small India-ink mark between thumb and forefinger of 
left hand. Straight nose. Part of an anchor on one arm. 

RECORD. 

" MoLLiE Matches," or John Larney, which is his right name, although a talented 
thief, was always an outspoken one. He makes his home in Cleveland, O.; wears fine 
clothes, which is his weakness ; seldom indulges in liquor, never to excess ; he has an 
aversion to tobacco. When he settled down in Cleveland, in 1875, he said he was 
going to live honestly if the police would let him. For some reason or another he 
failed to do so. The great fault with MoUie was the freedom with which he talked of 
his affairs, to which failing he ultimately owed his downfall. The act that made 
Larney notorious and gave him his alias was on the occasion of a large celebration in 
New York City, when he was a boy. He disguised himself as a match girl, and, 
basket in hand, mingled with the crowds in the streets. Being slight in form and 
having delicate features, the boy had no difficulty in carrying out the deception. His 
day's work, it is said, netted him over $2,000, and the nickname of " Mollie Matches." 
During the war Mollie attained great eminence as a bounty jumper. He says that he 
enlisted in ninety-three Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York regiments. 
Being of a frugal disposition, and having an eye to comfort in his old age, he invested 



68 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

in property in Toronto and Silver Creek, Canada, which he still holds under the name 
of John Dolan. Later he bought real estate in Cleveland, O. Mollie Matches has 
become pretty well known all over the United States. At the age of thirty-three years 
he had served eleven years in various reformatories and penal institutions, and was still 
indebted twelve years' time to others from which he had escaped. He still owes six 
years to a Massachusetts State prison where he was sentenced to for seven years. He 
staid there just nine months ; he had the freedom of the jail-yard on account of his 
eyesight failing him ; he finally recovered his liberty and eyesight both. About seven 
years after his escape he was again sent to the same prison, which was in Salem, and 
served a sixteen months' sentence without being recognized. The adventures through 
which this man passed are wonderful. He is believed to have realized by his tricks 
about $150,000, a large portion of which he has paid out lately to lawyers. 

Mollie was convicted at Galesburg, 111., for robbing the Farmers' and Mechanics' 
Bank of that city, and was sentenced to ten years in State prison at Joliet, 111., on 
July 1 7, 1882. At a trial in Cleveland, O., on January 14, 1885, the above bank obtained 
a judgment of $12,000 against Mollie. An associate of his, Eddie Guerin, testified on 
this trial as follows : " After I had concluded that the Galesburg Bank was an easy one 
to work, I sent for 'Mollie Matches' and two others. They agreed with me. One of 
them went to a neighboring town and hired a horse and wagon containing a large 
dry goods box. We hitched the team near the bank about noon. ' Mollie' watched 
the president and treasurer go out of the bank, and immediately entered it and went 
to the cashier and proceeded to buy a New York draft, with small silver, making much 
noise. Another man stood near by holding up a paper that screened the third man, 
who sneaked in and took $9,600 off the desk alongside the cashier, while Mollie was 
arguing with him about the draft. Mollie admitted to the cashier that he had made 
a mistake as to the amount of money he had with him, and gathering up what he had, 
said he would go for some more. Once outside, the ' look-out,' the sneak and Mollie 
(the ' stall ') jumped into the wagon, and were driven by the fourth man to the railroad 
depot, and all escaped. It was months afterwards that Mollie was arrested in Cin- 
cinnati, O., on December 21, 1881, and taken back to Galesburg for trial. 

His picture is a fair one, although a copy. 



12 
EDWARD RICE, alias BIG RICE. 

CONFIDENCE AND HOTEL MAN. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-eight years old in 1886. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weighty 
about 180 pounds. A fine, large, well-built man. Very gentlemanly appearance. 
Born in United States. Married. Brown hair, light brown beard, light complexion. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 69 

RECORD. 

Big Rice, as he is familiarly called, is well known in all the principal cities in the 
"United States. He is a very clever general thief, a good "stall," confidence man and 
"pennyweight" and hotel worker. He has traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific at 
the expense of others, and has served at least twenty years in State prison during his 
life, ten years of which was in one sentence. Rice, in 1870, was implicated in a bank 
robbery in Halifax, N. S., with Horace Hovan and another man ; the latter two were 
arrested, and Rice escaped and finally sent back the $20,000 stolen from the bank 
vault, and Hovan and the other man were discharged. 

Rice was arrested in New York City, on April 24, 1878, for complicity in the 
robbery of the National Bank of Cambridgeport, Mass., which occurred in September, 
1877. He gave the name of Albert C. Moore. He was discharged in New York City 
on April 31, 1878, the Governor of Massachusetts refusing to grant a requisition for 
him. He was immediately arrested by the Sheriff of New York on a civil process, the 
bank having commenced a civil action against him for the recovery of the money stolen 
from the bank, about $12,000. On May 8, 1878, Judge Pratt, of Brooklyn, N. Y., 
vacated the order of arrest and removed the attachment off" his house on Thirteenth 
Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., and he was discharged. He was at once arrested on a 
requisition from Massachusetts, one having been obtained during his confinement on 
the civil charge, and he was taken to Cambridgeport, Mass., for trial, which never came 
off", on account of there not being sufficient evidence to convict him. Rice was also 
charged with robbing the Lechmere National Bank of East Cambridge of $50,000, on 
Saturday, March 16, 1878. When arrested he had in his possession a number of United 
States bonds of $1,000, and a bogus check for $850. 

Ed. Rice, Joe Dubuque, and a party named Frank Stewart were arrested in Roch- 
ester, N. Y., on April 29, 1881, by officers from Detroit, Mich., charged with having 
early in April, 1881, stolen $728 worth of diamonds and jewelry from a jewelry store in 
that city. They were also charged with the larceny of $5,000 in money from the bank- 
ing-house of Fisher, Preston & Co., of that city, in July, 1880. 

Rice was taken back to Detroit on a requisition, when an additional charge was 
made against him of complicity in the robbery of the First National Bank. He was 
bailed out in September, 1 88 1, and forfeited it. He was re-arrested in Syracuse, N. Y., 
in July, 1885, and taken back to Detroit, and in an effort to save himself from punish- 
ment in this case, he accused one Joseph Harris, who was keeping a saloon in Chicago, 
of it. Harris was arrested in Chicago, on July 29, 1885, and taken to Detroit for trial. 
Rice was discharged after an examination by a magistrate on September i, 1885. He 
was arrested again on a requisition from Ohio the same day, but discharged in a few 
days on a writ of habeas corpus. 

Rice was arrested again in Boston, Mass., on June 11, 1886, where he had just 
arrived from Canada, and delivered to the Cincinnati police authorities, who wanted him 
for a burglary committed in that city in the fall of 1883. Paddy Guerin, who was with 
him in this burglary, was arrested and sentenced to four years in State prison. 

Rice's picture is a very good one. 



JO PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

13 

WILLIAM OGLE, alias BILLY OGLE, 
alias Frank Somers. 

BURGLAR AND FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-two years old in 1886. Born in New York. Medium build. Married. 
Height, 5 feet 71^ inches. Weight, 148 pounds. Brown hair, brown eyes, fair com- 
plexion. Wears sandy mustache and sometimes side whiskers. 

RECORD. 

Billy Ogle is a good general thief. He fell in with Charles Vanderpool, alias 
Brockway, some years ago, and worked with him up to the Providence job in August, 
1880. He does not confine himself to any particular kind of work. He is a handy 
burglar, good sneak, and first-class second-story man. 

Ogle was arrested in Chicago with Charles Vanderpool, alias Brockway, in 1879, 
for forgery on the First National Bank of that city. Brockway was bailed in $10,000, 
in consequence of some information he gave to the authorities, and the case never was 
tried. Ogle was also finally discharged. He was arrested shortly after, in 1879, i^^ 
Orange, N. J., for an attempt at burglary, and on a second trial he luckily escaped with 
six months' imprisonment. Ogle was again arrested in New York City and convicted 
for uttering a forged check for $2,490, drawn on the Phoenix Bank of New York, pur- 
ported to be signed by Purss & Young, brokers, of Wall Street, New York City. He 
was sentenced to five years in State prison by Judge Cowing, on June 14, 1880. His 
counsel appealed the case, and Judge Donohue, of the Supreme Court, granted him a 
new trial, and he was released on $2,500 bail in July, 1880. Andy Gilligan and Charles 
Farren, alias the " Big Duke," were also arrested in connection with this forgery. While 
out on bail in this case. Ogle was again arrested in Providence, R. I., on August 16, 
1880, with Charles O. Brockway and Joe Cook, alias Havill, a Chicago sneak, in an 
attempt to pass two checks, one on the Fourth National Bank for $1,327, and the other, 
of $1,264, O"^ the old National Bank of that city. He was convicted for this offense, 
and sentenced to three years in State prison on October 2, 1880, under the name of 
Frank Somers. His time expired in August, 1883. He was arrested again in the 
spring of 1884 for a "second-story job," with John Tracy, alias Big Tracy. They 
robbed the residence of John W. Pangborn, on Belmont Avenue, Jersey City Heights, 
of diamonds and jewelry valued at $1,500. He was convicted for this offense on June 
26, 1884. His counsel obtained a new trial for him in July, 1884, upon which he was 
tried and acquitted. Big Tracy was also discharged, and they both went West. In 
the fall of 1885 Ogle was arrested in Tennessee, and sentenced to ten years in the 



13 



14 



15 




WILLIAM OGLE. 

ALIAS BILLY OGLE— FRANK SOMERS, 

BURGLAR AND FORGER. 



CHAS. 0. VANDERPOOL 

ALIAS CHAS. O. BROCKWAY, 

FORGER AND COUNTERFEITER. 



JOSEPH COOK. 

ALIAS GEO. HAVILL— HARRY THORN, 

BANK BURGLAR, SNEAK AND FORGER. 



16 



17 



18 




FREDERICK ELLIOTT. 

ALIAS JOE ELLIOTT— JOE REILLV, 
FORGER. 



LESTER BEACH. 
FORGER. 



CHARLES BECKER, 

ALIAS CHARLIE BECKER, 
FORGER. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 7 1 

penitentiary for house work. He shortly afterwards made his escape from a gang 
while working out on a railroad, and is now at large. 
Ogle's picture is a good one, taken in 1880. 



14 
CHARLES O. VANDERPOOL, alias BROCKWAY. 

FORGER AND COUNTERFEITER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Fifty-one years old in 1876. Born in United States. Married. Medium build. 
Dark curly hair, blue eyes, sallow complexion. Height, 5 feet 9^ inches. Weight, 
160 pounds. Black beard. 

RECORD. 

Charles O. Brockway, whose right name is Vanderpool, is one of the cleverest 
forgers in America. He has no doubt been responsible for several forgeries that 
have been committed in America during the past fifteen years. He at one time kept 
a faro bank in partnership of Daniel Dyson, alias Dan Noble, who is now serving 
twenty years in Europe for forgery. He subsequently branched out as a counterfeiter, 
and served two terms in State prison for it. The last one, of five years, was done in 
Auburn, New York, State prison. His time expired there in 1878. He afterwards 
went West, and was arrested in Chicago, 111., with Billy Ogle, in June, 1879, fo'' forgery 
on the First National Bank of that city. At the time of his arrest a full set of 
forgers' implements was found in his room. He made a confession, and charged an 
ex-government detective with having brought him to Chicago and picked out the 
banks for him to work. This statement was corroborated by a subsequent confession 
of Billy Ogle. The authorities indicted the ex-detective, and Brockway was admitted 
to bail in $10,000. The case never went to trial for lack of other evidence to corrob- 
orate Brockway and Ogle, who were both men of bad character. 

Brockway came back to New York, where he was credited with doing considerable 
work. The following banks are said to have been victimized through him : The 
Second National Bank, the Chemical National Bank, the Bank of the Republic, the 
Chatham National Bank, the Corn Exchange Bank, and the Phoenix National Bank. 

He was finally arrested at Providence, R. I., on August 16, 1880, with Billy Ogle 
(13) and Joe Cook, alias Havill (15), a Chicago sneak, in an attempt to pass a check 
on the Fourth National Bank for $1,327, and another on the old National Bank for 
$1,264. Brockway pleaded guilty to two indictments for forgery, and was sentenced to 
eight years in State prison at Providence, R. I., on October 2, 1880. 

His time will expire, allowing full commutation, on August 26, 1886. See com- 
mutation laws of Rhode Island. 

Brockway's picture is a good one, taken in 1880. 



72 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

15 

JOSEPH COOK, alias GEO. HAVILL, 

alias Harry Thorn. 

FORGER AND SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-nine years old in 1886. Born in Canada. Slim build. Height, 5 feet 
8 inches. Weight, 145 pounds. Light hair, blue eyes, light complexion. 

RECORD. 

"Cook," or Havill, which is his right name, is a Chicago sneak thief. He came 
East with Brockway in 1869. Brockway used him in a few transactions in New York, 
and afterwards in Providence, R. I., where he was arrested with Brockway and Billy 
Ogle on August 16, 1880, for attempting to pass two forged checks, one on the Fourth 
National Bank and another on the old National Bank of that city. Havill was con- 
victed under the name of Joseph Cook for this offense, and was sentenced to four years 
in State prison at Providence, R. I., on October 2, i88o. His time expired March 
14, 1884. 

Havill was arrested near Elmira, N. Y., on February 14, 1885, in company with 
John Love (68), Charles Lowery, Frank McCrann and Mike Blake, for robbing the 
Osceola Bank of Pennsylvania, and sentenced to nine years and nine months in State 
prison on April 9, 1885, under the name of Harry Thorn. 

His picture is a good one, taken in 1880. 



16 

FREDERICK ELLIOTT, alias JOE ELLIOTT, 

alias Joe Reilly. 

FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-one years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married, No trade. 
Slim build. Height, 5 feet 3 inches. Weight, about 115 pounds. Black hair, black 
eyes, dark complexion. Generally wears a black mustache, sometimes a full black 
beard, not very heavy growth. 

RECORD. 

"Joe Elliott," or Joe Reilly, which is his right name, is well known from his 
connection with Charley Becker, the notorious forger and counterfeiter. In 1873, 
when Reilly was a boy, he was taken to Europe by Becker, who, in company with joe 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. Tl 

Chapman and Ivan Siscovitch, alias Adams, a Russian, and others, flooded Turkey 
with forged sight drafts. All of them were arrested and sentenced to three years and 
six months each in prison at Smyrna, in Turkey. Becker, Elliott and the Russian 
made their escape, went to Europe, and lived with Joe Chapman's wife in London. 
One day Mrs. Chapman was found dead, and all her money and jewelry were missing. 
The escaped forgers were suspected of the murder, and left for America shortly after. 
Siscovitch opened a drinking saloon under Booth's Theatre, New York City, which 
place was headquarters for all the noted forgers in America. 

The following interesting account of Elliott, which was published, has been 
corrected, and is here given : 

" Little Joe " Elliott, forger and bank robber ! Who would ever imagine that such 
an inoffensive-looking little man as he could ever be guilty of crime ? And yet " Little 
Joe's" face is one of the best known in the Rogues' Gallery. He started in at shop- 
lifting when he was only a boy ; advanced from a position of sneak thief to the rank of 
bank robber, and finally was graduated as an expert forger. He has committed crimes 
all over this continent and in half the countries of the other, and has seen the inside of 
at least a score of prisons. 

There is nothing wicked in the appearance of " Little Joe." He has proved him- 
self a desperate man when actively engaged in professional work, but away from it he 
was polite and gentlemanly. He dressed well, was quick-witted, a ready conver- 
sationalist and withal quite a dashing young fellow. He kept company with many of 
the most aristocratic young bloods about town and could set up as much champagne in 
a night as any of them. He always had money. Very few knew him to be a thief, 
most of them looking on him as a well-to-do sporting man. 

This was " Little Joe " as he was when he first met Kate Castleton, the actress, 
and won her affections. It was about ten years ago, and she was playing at the time 
with the San Francisco Minstrels in this city. " Little Joe " was a regular patron of 
the theatres, and in one of his nightly tours he heard Kate sing. She was then a fresh, 
rosy-cheeked girl, a trifle younger than she is to-day, and the bad little man was 
charmed with her. He was introduced to her by a young blood, courted her three 
days, and then was married to her at the Little Church Around the Corner. It was 
one night after her customary performance had taken place. She wore her stage 
clothing, and every member of her company went with her. There were a number of 
young men about town present also, and after the wedding there was a great dinner at 
Delmonico's. The couple made a wedding tour, which lasted a month, and then 
settled down in elegantly furnished quarters in Twenty-first Street. 

Miss Castleton was aware of her husband's true character when she married him, 
but he promised to give up his unlawful profession and lead an honest life, assuring her 
that he had enough money to support them both for a while, and that when that had 
gone he could earn more. He insisted on her leaving the stage and for a while they 
lived happily. Then Kate went back to the stage once more against her husband's 
will, and a cloud darkened the domestic horizon. It arose and increased in blackness 
until " Little Joe " became tired of his quiet life and went back to his old tricks. In 
the early part of April, 1877, he was arrested for forging a draft for $64,000 on the 



74 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

New York Life Insurance Company. While on the way to the Tombs, on June 9, 
1877, he made his escape. He was re-arrested on February 21, 1878, and identified as 
having been concerned in an $8,000 robbery from a Boston jeweler. He pleaded guilty 
and was sentenced to four years in State prison, on November 13, 1878, for the $64,000 
forgery. Becker turned State's evidence and secured immunity for himself. 

Kate's affection for him was renewed with his trouble, and she visited him as often 
as prison regulations would permit. Indeed, it is said that she won the hearts of his 
keepers in the course of time, and was permitted to visit him more frequently. She 
also tried in many ways to have him pardoned, and went so far as to pay the governor 
a personal visit and intercede in his behalf. All her efforts, however, were futile, and 
" Little Joe" was obliged to serve out his time, less a generous commutation for good 
behavior. 

After his release from prison, on November 12, 1881, the brilliant young swindler 
made a second vow to reform and became his wife's manager. He became jealous, 
however, because of her many admirers, and secured a divorce, only to re-marry her 
again within a year. He was her manager for a time three years ago, while she was 
starring in " Pop" at the Bijou. Jealousy made trouble for them once more and they 
parted forever. The last straw which broke the back of their domestic happiness was a 
young man of wealth and position who became infatuated with Kate. "Little Joe" 
thought that his wife returned the young man's affection, and decided to end matters. 
He found that his rival was in the habit of seeing Kate home when he failed to call 
for her, and one night he " laid in wait for them." He met them, arm in arm, at the 
junction of Broadway and Sixth Avenue, just as the crowds from the theatres were 
going home. His rival was at least three sizes larger than he, but he hit him under 
the ear which dropped him, after which " Little Joe" proceeded to walk on him. He 
left him fearfully bruised and mangled, and quietly slipped away just in time to escape 
the police. Thereafter he refused to recognize his wife and deserted her. Kate has 
since married Harry Phillips, the manager of " Crazy Patch," in which she is now 
playing. " Little Joe " had been abroad a short time previous to his first marriage to Miss 
Castleton, and he was suspected of having a guilty knowledge of the murder of Mary 
Chapman, in London, which occurred about ten years ago. Mary Chapman was the 
wife of Joseph B. Chapman, the famous American forger and counterfeiter. " Little 
Joe" had a short time previously been convicted of forgery in Constantinople, Turkey, 
and was sentenced to imprisonment. (See record of No. 18.) Chapman and Carlo 
Siscovitch, alias " The Dago," were sentenced with him. Mrs. Chapman learned of her hus- 
band's imprisonment while she was in London, and went at once to Constantinople to see 
what could be done. She visited the prison, and found that her husband was confined 
in a dark cell for breach of discipline, and could not be seen. She had an interview, 
however, with " Little Joe" and "The Dago," and furnished them with tools to break jail, 
with the understanding that they should bring her husband out with them. The men 
promised, and were supplied with saws and files which the woman took to them con- 
cealed in her clothing. As a matter of precaution she started back to London before 
they broke out. A few months later the two men made their escape, leaving Chapman 
behind, and returned to London. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 75 

Mrs. Chapman was very angry when she learned of their treachery, and threatened 
to expose them to the police. A few weeks later her body was found in bed, having 
died suddenly, and was not murdered, as has been heretofore reported. " Little Joe " 
and Siscovitch shortly after sailed for America, arriving in July, 1876. 

Joe Reilly, alias Elliott, Gus Raymond and George Wilkes were arrested in New 
York City on March 16, 1886, for forgeries committed in Rochester, N. Y. Raymond 
was discharged, and Elliott and Wilkes were delivered to the police authorities of 
Rochester, N. Y., and taken there. The following is a newspaper account of their 
transactions in that city : 

Rochester, March 18, 1886. — Much interest is felt here over the arrest in New 
York of Wilkes and Elliott, the forgers. They came to Rochester during the races last 
August (1885). Wilkes remained a night at the new Osborne House, under the name 
of Gordon. He is believed to have prepared the draft with three signatures, which was 
very carefully drawn, and purporting to have been issued by the Bank of Montreal on 
the Bank of the Republic at New York. Elliott, under the name of Edwards, worked 
with a confederate who went under the name of James W. Conklin. These two rented 
offices near each other, and each hired a clerk. Conklin opened an account at the 
Commercial National Bank, and Elliott, alias Edwards, opened one at the Flour City 
National Bank. Edwards deposited the draft, and on August 10, 1885, sent his clerk, 
a young man named Blum, to get $2,500 on a check, which was paid. Conklin tried 
the same tactics at the Commercial Bank, but his clerk was told to have him call, which 
he failed to do. Two weeks later they turned up in Dayton, O., and tried to work the 
same game, after changing names. President Hathaway, of the Flour City Bank, says 
that Elliott can positively be identified as the man who left at that bank the forged 
$2,500 draft. 

Elliott was tried and convicted, on May 11, 1886, and was sentenced to fifteen 
years in State prison, for forgery on the Flour City Bank of Rochester, N. Y., on 
May 14, 1886, by Judge Morgan, County Judge of Monroe County, N. Y. 

One David Lynch, alias George Edwards, was arrested in New York City on April 
30, 1886, in connection with these forgeries. He was taken to Rochester, pleaded 
guilty, and was used as a witness to convict Elliott. He was sentenced on the 
same day with Elliott to five years in State prison, by Judge Morgan. 

See records of Nos. 18, 26, and George Wilkes. 

Elliott's picture is an excellent one, taken in April, 1877. 



17 
LESTER BEACH. 

FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-nine years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Painter. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 166 pounds. Gray hair, brown eyes, light 



76 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

complexion. Heavy nose lines and wrinkles under the eyes. Hair thin on top of 
head. Generally wears a brown and gray mustache. 

RECORD. 

Lester Beach is a well known forger, having been arrested several times. He is 
an associate of Charles R. Titus, alias Doctor Thompson (44), another professional 
forger, who attempted to pass a forged check for $100,000, drawn on J. B. Colgate & 
Co., brokers, of No. 47 Wall Street, New York City, in 1869. 

Beach was arrested in New York City on November 26, 1878, in company of Titus, 
charged with having obtained $70 from Morris Steinhart, of No. 67 Hudson Street, 
New York City, on a bogus certified check on the Bank of New York. He stated 
when arrested that he was furnished the check by a man named Browning, who was to 
meet him and receive the proceeds. This man proved to be Dr. Titus. Additional 
complaints were made against Beach by R. J. Clay, of No. 176 Broadway, and G. F. 
Morse, of No. 174 South Fifth Avenue, New York City. Mr. Clay stated that Beach 
obtained $30 from him on a certified check on the Newark City, N. J., National Bank, 
which proved to be a forgery. Mr. Morse stated that he had given Beach $99 on a 
certified check for $100 on the Merchants' Bank of Brooklyn, N. Y., which also proved 
worthless. 

Beach was tried and convicted of forgery in the Steinhart case, and sentenced to 
three years and six months in State prison at Sing Sing, N. Y., on December 18, 1879, 
by Judge Gildersleeve, in the Court of General Sessions, in New York City. 

See record of No. 40. 

Beach's picture is an excellent one, taken in November, 1876. 



18 
CHARLES BECKER, alias CHARLEY BECKER. 

FORGER AND COUNTERFEITER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Born in Germany. Trade, engraver. Stout build. 
Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 170 pounds. Iron-gray hair, hazel eyes, light com- 
plexion. Generally wears a brown mustache. 

RECORD. 

Charley Becker is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, but came to America when 
a mere lad, and learned the engraver's trade. His expertness as an engraver led him 
to associate with George Engles, George Wilkes, and other celebrated forgers and 
counterfeiters, and he soon became their most valuable ally. He first came into noto- 
riety through his connection with the robbery of the Third National Bank of Baltimore, 
Md., in August, 1872. He fled to Europe with Joe Elliott, alias Little Joe, where they 
met Joe Chapman, Ivan Siscovitch, a Russian, and others, and at once started in to 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 77 

flood Turkey with forged sight drafts. All hands were arrested, convicted, and sen- 
tenced to three years and six months each in prison at Smyrna, in Turkey. Becker, 
Elliott, and Siscovitch made their escape, went to Europe, and lived a while with Joe 
Chapman's wife in London. One day Mrs. Chapman, who knew their secrets, was found 
dead. All her money and jewelry was missing. Siscovitch was suspected for the 
murder, and left at once for America. Becker and Elliott also arrived in America in 
July, 1876. Siscovitch opened a saloon under Booth's Theatre, New York, which was 
the headquarters of nearly all the forgers in this country at that time. Becker, Joe Elliott, 
alias Little Joe, and Clement Herring, Becker's father-in-law, were arrested in New York 
City on April 10, 1877, for the $64,000 forgery on the Union Trust Company of New 
York. Elliot was convicted on Becker's testimony, who turned State's evidence to save 
himself. 

Becker and George Engles were arrested again on January i, 1881, on suspicion of 
being engaged in a scheme with George Wilkes and others, then under arrest in Florence, 
Italy, to issue large quantities of forged mercantile paper in Europe. They were turned 
over to the United States authorities upon an application of the Vice-Consul of Italy, and 
were confined in Ludlow Street jail to await an application for their extradition, which 
was not granted. They were both discharged by Commissioner Osborn in the United 
States Court on January 5, 1881. 

Becker and one Nathan Marks were arrested in Brooklyn, N. Y., on September 16, 
1 88 1, charged with counterfeiting a 1,000-franc note of the Bank of France. They lay 
in Raymond Street jail until October 3, 1881, when they were bailed by Justice Pratt, 
of Brooklyn, in the sum of $20,000. Becker was finally convicted and sentenced to six 
years and six months in the Kings County Penitentiary, December 14, 1881, for the 
1,000-franc note forgery, by Judge Moore. 

Becker, Elliott, and Chapman, after many professional exploits in America, 
England, and on the Continent, either tired of Europe, or else, having worked the 
European field to a perilous extent, sallied into Turkey. They did not counterfeit Turkish 
money, because it isn't worth counterfeiting. Money that takes a hatful to pay for a 
drink is too debased for imitative genius to trifle with. Instead, the trio posed as trav- 
elers and victimized local banks with letters of credit, indorsed by somebody with a 
solid financial standing, and made encouraging progress until brought up with a round 
turn in Smyrna. Here they were locked up and convicted, getting three and a half 
years apiece. 

The following is a detailed account of Becker's escape from the Constantinople 
concierge, in company of Joe Elliott and Siscovitch, obtained from Becker while 
confined in Kings County, N. Y., Penitentiary, on March 19, 1886, by a reporter, in 
presence of the warden : 

Becker said, " The jail at Smyrna hadn't anything but mud walls, and we'd have 
left it quick enough if we'd cared to. It was the country, not the jail, that held us. 
We couldn't get out of the country. 

" The authorities, lacking confidence in the jail, shipped us to Constantinople, where 
we were put into a prison of the old-fashioned sort, with walls four feet in thickness, 
solid cell doors and caststeel grate-bars an inch and a half square, and of this seclusion we 



78 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

soon tired. It chanced on the day we were convicted in Smyrna that Carlo Siscovitch was 
gathered in at Constantinople for working the very same game. Funny, wasn't it, that 
there should have been another American in the same line ? If he'd read the papers he'd 
have known that the art had ceased to be popular in Turkey, but he didn't. The result 
was that we fell into each other's company. When we got tired we began planning to 
get out. And let me say here that the story about Chapman's wife coming to our aid 
and we going off leaving her husband inside was all wrong, as well as the yarn that 
Elliott had murdered her because she made him trouble later in London ; all wrong, the 
whole." Here Mr. Becker paused to chuckle intensely, and proceeded : " It wasn't 
Chapman's wife at all that came to our help, but it was the wife of Siscovitch. The 
' Dago ? ' well, I never heard him called that. They call all Italians and Portuguese 
that, though, and he, in my opinion, was born in Trieste, or some Austro-Italian town. 
I knew him then as Howard Adams, or Charles Adams, something of the sort with an 
Adams in it, and as an American. His wife came and helped us out. It took a month, 
almost, before we could fix things. Did we leave Chapman inside ? We did. There 
was good reason for it. He gave us away three times, and as we wanted to get out we 
didn't include him in the fourth attempt. The cell doors locked with top and bottom 
bolts, and though each had its key, there was a general key that fitted all of them. A 
key like that was useful, and it was by a mere accident that we got one. It happened 
one day that the prison marshal— they don't have wardens there — came rushing in to 
have a prisoner sign some papers, and rushed out again, leaving his key sticking in the 
keyhole. It wasn't very long before we had an impression of it, and it was back in the 
lock again." 

Here Mr. Becker's emotions quite mastered him, and the innocent reporter's query 
as to where he got his wax, added to his merriment until he was forced to extract a 
handkerchief from the basement of his zebra trousers and mildly smother himself. 
Then he explained kindly that wax wasn't at all necessary, for soap or bread or 
anything soft that could hold together would answer just as well. Casually remarking 
that the prison was stronger than the Flatbush article, Mr. Becker continued : 

" After getting the shape of the key we had Mrs. Siscovitch bring us two blank 
keys, some little files, Turkish caps and three lanterns. She smuggled them in. You 
see you've got to carry a lantern if you're going to travel in Constantinople. The 
streets are dark. Chapman, Elliott and I were in one cell. Siscovitch was in with 
some sailors around the corner of the corridor. I was the last man to be shut up at 
night. So when we were all ready, and had put enough rope where it was wanted, I 
slipped around and unlocked the door of Siscovitch's apartment and then went back to 
be locked up. About midnight when the guards were snoring, he gets out and in turn 
unlocks our door. Chapman was asleep. Did we wake him ? Not much. He'd have 
hollered murder if we had. We went out and steered at once for the store-room where 
our clothes were piled away — put there you know when we went in. We broke open 
the store-room, got our things, and then found our way into the yard and sized up the 
prison wall. It was forty-two feet high, but fortunately there was a grating over the 
arching of the gate and our rope was ready. We boosted little Elliott up on the arch 
way, and as luck would have it he stepped on the wire of the prison bell leading into 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 79 

the room where the keeper's head clerk slept, and set it to jingling in a way that froze 
us stiff. The jig looked up if ever it did. We'd had lots of fun with that bell. The 
wire ran under the cell window on its way, and we used to hitch a bent pin to a string 
and fooled him many times by setting her to going." 

Here Mr. Becker's emotions again brought salt water to his eyes, as his memory 
bore him back to the clanging bell and the deceived and wrathful Ottoman officeholder. 
When he overcame them he went on : 

" It was lucky we had fooled him in that way so often. If the bell woke him up 
he concluded it was another joke and went to sleep again. We waited fifteen minutes 
for somebody to come and catch us, and then went at it again. The rope was weighted 
with a piece of wood, and we threw it over the wall to catch it at the grating, and by 
fastening it there were able to climb to the top. There was enough rope beside the 
loop to reach to the ground, and down it we scrambled to run into more trouble. We 
woke up right away about sixty Mohammedan dogs, who had been snoozing peacefully 
in the shadow of the wall. I never heard curs bark louder ; but they brought no one. 
Sliding down the rope Elliott dropped the matches and we couldn't light the lanterns. 
All three of us got down on the ground and hunted. By-and-by we found one 
brimstone splinter, and lighted up. The dogs stopped howling then. They do not 
howl at people who are properly illuminated, and we traveled on to find the apartments 
which Mrs. Siscovitch had engaged. While hunting around we heard the rapping of 
watchmen's night sticks and dropped into an all night cafe filled with Greeks, where a 
band was playing, had some coffee, and stayed until morning. Half-a-dozen of the 
watch came in, but they did not know us. We were pretty well disguised and topped 
off with fezzes. Finally we got settled with Mrs. Siscovitch, but one day she glanced 
out of the window and saw the cavasse or interpreter from the American consulate, 
and the porter who had brought her baggage to the place, staring straight at the 
house ; then we knew they were after us, and didn't wait five minutes. We went out 
and hired a cab, not knowing which way to go, but telling the man to take us toward 
the English Cemetery. There we stopped at a cafe, and were sitting about our wine 
wondering what had better next be done, when a man came up who had seen Siscovitch 
tried. He knew us !" 

Here Mr. Becker looked grateful, and professing not to know the obliging 
gentleman's name continued : 

" He took us to his home and took care of us for two months. I sent Elliott to 
England after some money I had there, and when it came we went to London also. 
We made our friend a good present and he saw us safe over the border." 

The warden asked what inducement this man, presumably a Greek, had for his 
extraordinary benevolence. Mr. Becker said he didn't know, but guessed he did it out 
of natural sympathy. They promised him a good present, though, and gave it to him. 
That was all. With a confidence in humanity shaken by five years of prison care, the 
warden shook his head, but Becker only smiled and began to wind up his story : 

" Mrs. Siscovitch was arrested and held a while, but got off and rejoined her 
husband in London. I gave them funds to get to America and supposed they had 
gone ; hoped so, for I did not like the fellow. Both Elliott and I went to board with 



8o PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Mrs. Chapman. I'd known her for years, and Elliott had left his things with her 
before going into the Orient. Didn't she feel mad at our leaving her husband in the 
crib ? Not at all. She knew what he was ; he'd no courage. His giving us away was 
to earn commutation time. Now about the story of her murder : I hadn't been there 
long before who should turn up but Siscovitch and his wife, seeking lodgings, with a 
letter of introduction to Mrs. Chapman from an American friend. I left them. I 
didn't trust him. Elliott had left before. He was somewhere in Germany and I in 
Paris, two months afterward, when we heard she was killed, and both came right back 
to London to testify if need be. When the jury found that she might have died of 
heart disease, and that if poisoned there was no sign of it, we came back to America, 
and I guess my story from that time on is pretty well known." 

Again Mr. Becker chuckled softly to say : 

" Do I think she was murdered ? I hardly know. Where was Siscovitch ? Well, 
he left her house either the day before or ten minutes before she died. I shall always 
think he took her jewels and perhaps more. She had plenty of money in the house 
and some in the Post-office Bank. I know this, for I paid her eighty pounds, Elliott 
as much more, and she had two other gentlemen boarders. She often offered to help 
me out if I needed it. What makes me think he took her jewelry is that a friend of 
mine met him a year or so later in the Bowery, New York, loaded down with rings and 
pins. I doubt if she was murdered, though. She'd suffered from heart disease for 
years, and if she was murdered, the doctors said at the inquest, she couldn't have lived 
twenty-four hours longer, any way." 

Since Becker's confinement in the Kings County (N. Y.) Penitentiary he has made 
a bold but unsuccessful attempt to escape. 

See records of No. i6 and George Wilkes. 

Becker's picture is a good one, taken in 1877. 



19 
JOHN HOPE, alias WATSON. 

MANHATTAN BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty years old in 1886. Born in United States. Single. Stout build. Height, 
5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 160 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes, round face, light 
complexion. Scar about one inch long over left eyebrow. 

RECORD. 

Johnny Hope is the son of old Jimmy Hope (20), the celebrated bank burglar, 
now in State prison at San Quintan, Cal, for burglary. He branched out as a 
pickpocket, and was arrested for that offense in New York City in 1877. He is known 
in several large cities in the United States, and is considered a clever burglar. 



19 



20 



21 




i 


^>^\^'^\j Vm^^^^H 


^^ V '-^MBBBM 1 


JM 




JOH/]/ HOPE, 

ALIAS WATSON, 

MANHATTAN BANK BURGLAR. 



JAMES HOPE, 

ALIAS OLD MAN HOPE, 

BANK BURGLAR. 



JOHN CLARE, 

ALIAS GILMORE, 

BANK BURGLAR. 



22 



23 



24 




LANGDON W. MOORE, 

ALIAS CHARLEY ADAMS, 

BANK BURGLAR. 



DANIEL WATSON, 

ALIAS DUTCH DAN-KANE, 

BURGLAR AND TOOL MAKER. 



GEORGE MASON, 

ALIAS GORDON 

BANK BURGLAR. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 8 1 

Hope was arrested in New York City on February i8, 1879, fo'' ^^e robbery of the 
Manhattan Savings Institution, corner Broadway and Bleecker Street, New York, which 
occurred on October 27, 1878. He was placed on trial in the Court of General Sessions 
on June 12, 1879. ^^ '^'^^ convicted, and sentenced to twenty years in State prison, 
for robbery in the first degree, on July 18, 1879. His case was appealed up to the 
highest court, and confirmed. He was taken from the Tombs prison in New York to 
Sing Sing prison on February 3, 1881. The other parties implicated in this robbery 
were Patrick Shevelin, the watchman of the bank; William Kelly, old Jimmy Hope, 
Abe Coakley, Pete Emerson, alias Banjo Pete; John Nugent, and Eddie Gearing, alias 
Eddie Goodie. The following is a complete list of securities, etc., taken from the bank. 

"T^HE MANHATTAN SAVINGS INSTITUTION was, on the morning of Sunday, October 27, 1878, 
-■■ robbed of securities to the amount of $2,747,700, of which $2,506,700 are registered in the name of the 
Institution, and are not negotiable, and $168,000 are made payable to it, and $73,000 are in coupon bonds 
and $11,000 in cash. 

CHARLES F. ALVORD, Secretary. EDWARD SCHELL, President. 

New York, October 27, 1878. 

THE STOLEN SECURITIES. 

The following is the statement prepared by the officials of their lost securities : 

United States 5's of 1881, registered — 8 of $50,000 each, Nos. 165, 166, 643 to 646, 737 

and 738 ; 10 of $10,000, Nos. 13,486 to 13,495, inclusive $500,000 

United States 6's of 1881, registered — 20 of $10,000 each, Nos. 9,276 to 9,295, inclusive. . 200,000 
United States 10-40 bonds, registered — 60 of $10,000 each, Nos. 8,744 to 8,763 and 18,903 

to 18,942, inclusive 600,000 

United States 4 per cents, registered — 30 of $10,000 each, Nos. 1,971 to 2,000, inclusive. . 300,000 
United States 5-20's of July, 1865; 26 of $500 each, Nos. 82,006, 82,144, 82,145, 84,903, 
85,046, 85,107, 86,080, 86,943, 87,475, 89,707, 89,728, 90,319, 90,419, 93,043, 93,170, 
94,577, 97,928, 97,933, 99,57°, 99,876, 101,110, 102,792, 102,908, 103,421, 105,099, 
106,636 ; 35 of $1,000 each, Nos. 152,410, 152,411, 153,986, i54,4io, 157,844, 161,662, 
163,159, 165,120, 165,167, 166,794, 166,821, 169,044, 169,747, 171,959, 172,543, 
172,544, 173,052, 173,784, 173,785, 175,642, 178,050, 184,791, 187,141, 194,439, 
194,597, 194,742, 199,678, 201,292, 202,897, 207,085, 208,069, 208,746, 208,828, 

209,419, 209,686 48,000 

New York State sinking fund gold 6's, registered. No. 32 32,000 

New York City Central Park fund stock, certificate No. 724, registered 22,700 

New York County Court House stock, No. 2, six per cent, registered — 

Certificate, No. 4 $10,000 

Certificate, No. 23 35,°°° 

Certificate, No. 24 5,°°° 

Certificate, No. 32 10,000 

Certificate, No. 33 47,000 

Certificate, No. 39 95,°°° 

202,000 

New York City accumulated debt, seven per cent, bonds, registered — 

Two of $100,000 each, Nos. i and 2, due 1886 $200,000 

One of $50,000, due 1887, No. i 5°,ooo 

250,000 

New York City Improvement stock, seven per cent, registered ; ten certificates of $20,000 

each, Nos. i to 10 inclusive 200,000 

New York City Revenue Bond, registered 200,000 



82 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Yonkers City seven per cent, coupon bonds, ii8 of $i,ooo each, Nos. 233 to 242, 251 to 

278, 281 to 310, 311 to 340, 531 to 550, all inclusive $118,000 

Brooklyn City Water Loan coupon bonds, 25 of |i,ooo each, Nos. 2,167 to 2,191, inclusive. 25,000 

East Chester Town coupon bonds, 50 of $1,000 each, Nos. 27 to 76, inclusive 5°;°°° 

All of the above bonds and securities are registered in the name of the Manhattan Savings Institution, 
payable to it, except the $48,000 five-twenty bonds of July, 1865, the $118,000 Yonkers bonds, $50,000 
East Chester bonds, and the $25,000 Brooklyn City Water Loan coupon bonds. The bank officers notify 
all persons not to purchase or negotiate the bonds or securities, or any of them, "as the same are the 
property of the said The Manhattan Savings Institution." 

If any of the above bonds are offered you will please notify the police of New York City. 



This was no doubt the largest bank robbery that ever occurred in this country. 
Fortunately nearly all of the bonds and securities were registered in the name of the 
bank. The United States Government and the Legislature of the State of New York 
came to their rescue, and ordered new bonds and securities to be issued, thereby 
reducing the loss from nearly $3,000,000 to less than $20,000, the larger part of which 
was in money. 

Hope's picture is an excellent one, taken in February, 1878. 



20 
JAMES HOPE, alias OLD MAN HOPE. 

BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty years old in 1886. Born in Philadelphia. Married. Machinist. Short; 
stout build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 1 70 pounds. Round, full face ; light 
complexion. Is inclined to be round-shouldered ; generally wears a full, reddish-brown 
beard. Light brown hair, blue eyes. Has a long scar at right angle of mouth. 

RECORD. 

Old Hope is a daring and skillful bank burglar, and hails from Philadelphia, Pa. 
He has been concerned in some of the most important bank robberies com- 
mitted in this country for the past twenty-five years. He is renowned not only for 
his successful burglaries, but for his success in escaping from jails and prisons. He 
first came into prominent notice in 1870, in connection with the robbery of the 
paymaster's safe in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Although never arrested for this 
job, it was pretty well known that himself, Ned Lyons (70), who was arrested and 
jumped his bail, and two others were concerned in the robbery. His next exploit was 
the robbery of " Smith's Bank," at Perry, Wyoming Co., N. Y. He was arrested and 
sentenced to five years in State prison at Auburn, N. Y., for this robbery, on November 
28, 1870, under the name of James J. Watson. He escaped from there with Big Jim 
Brady, Dan Noble and Charles McCann, on January 3, 1873, leaving two years and six 
months of unexpired time behind him. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 83 

Hope and four other desperate burglars rented a house next door to the First 
National Bank of Wilmington, Del., and on November 7, 1873, succeeded in capturing 
the cashier of the bank and his whole family. The servant escaped, gave the alarm, 
and the gang, consisting of Hope, Big Frank McCoy (89), Tom McCormack, Big 
Jim Brady and George Bliss, were captured, tried, and sentenced to forty lashes and 
ten years each in prison, on November 25, 1873. They all succeeded in making their 
escape from jail in Delaware a short time afterwards. In February, 1878, Hope and 
Abe Coakley were arrested for an attempt to rob the Deep River Bank, at Deep River, 
Conn. ; both were sent to jail, and while there the murder of Cashier Barron, of the 
Dexter Bank of Maine, occurred. The authorities tried to ascertain from Hope who 
committed this double crime, as they were sure he knew. In this, however, they 
failed. Hope was taken from Deep River to Dexter, and from there to Lime Rock, 
Maine, and placed on trial for the Lime Rock Bank robbery, which took place in May, 
1870. After a week's trial Hope was acquitted. Hope is said to have been engaged 
in the Wellsboro, Pa., Bank robberies, which took place in September, 1874, and again in 
1875. His most conspicuous and successful robbery was that of the Manhattan Savings 
Institution, situated on the corner of Broadway and Bleecker Street, New York City, on 
Sunday, October 27, 1878, where himself and confederates succeeded in carrying away 
just $2,747,700, the larger part of which was in registered securities. The plans for the 
robbery were laid nearly three years before it took place. It is said that Hope had 
once before entered the bank vault and attacked the safes. His son, John Hope (19), 
is now serving a twenty years' sentence in Sing Sing prison for this robbery. For a 
list of the securities stolen, and the names of the other parties implicated in the 
robbery, see record of No. 19. 

Old Jimmy Hope went West, and was arrested in San Francisco, California, on 
June 27, 1 88 1, for an attempt to rob the safe in the banking house of Sauther & Co. of 
that city. The safe contained on that day about $600,000 in money and securities. 
He was committed for trial in default of $10,000 bail by Judge Rix, tried, convicted, 
and sentenced to seven years and six months in " San Quintan " prison, California, on 
November i, 1881. Big Tom Biglow and Dave Cummings, alias Little Dave (50), 
who was with Hope in this job, succeeded in making their escape. 

Hope's time will expire in California on November 16, 1886, allowing him full 
benefit of the commutation law. Upon his discharge he will be re-arrested and returned 
to Auburn prison, to serve out his unexpired time. 

Hope's picture is the only good one of him in existence, taken in June, 1881. 



21 

JOHN CLARE, alias GILMORE. 



BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Photographer by trade. 
Single. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Black hair, dark hazel eyes, 



84 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

dark complexion. Wears black side whiskers and mustache. Has a slight scar on left 

arm near elbow. 

RECORD. 

Clare is a clever and desperate bank burglar, and was at one time an associate or 
Ike Marsh's and his brother, and was with them in several bank robberies. He is 
credited with being able to make a good set of tools. 

He was arrested in Baltimore, Md., on November 4, 1865, charged with the murder 
of Henry B. Grove on October 17, 1865. On January 29, 1866, his trial commenced in 
Baltimore City, but was changed upon application of his counsel to Townstown, Balti- 
more County, on January 30, 1866. His trial occupied from December 13 to 20, 1866, 
when the jury rendered a verdict of murder in the first degree. A motion for a new 
trial was denied, and on January 14, 1867, he was sentenced to be hanged. The Court 
of Appeals granted him a new trial, and he was tried again on March 29, 1870, and 
acquitted. 

On June 27, 1874, an attempt was made to rob the safe of the New York County 
Bank, corner Fourteenth Street and Eighth Avenue, New York City. Clare, under 
the name of Gilmore, hired a basement next door to the bank, and had a steam 
engine at work boring out the back of the safe, which they reached by removing the 
brick walls of both houses. At the time of the raid by the police, William Morgan, 
alias Bunker, James Simpson, and Charles Sanborn were arrested, convicted, and sent 
to State prison. Clare, or Gilmore, made his escape, but was captured on March 27, 
1876, twenty-one months afterward, in New York City, tried, convicted, and sentenced 
to four years and six months in State prison by Judge Sutherland, in the Court of 
General Sessions, New York City. 

Clare's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1876. 



22 
LANGDON W. MOORE, alias CHARLEY ADAMS. 

BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-six years old in 1886. Born in New Hampshire. Light complexion. 
Height. 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Stout build. Always dresses neatly. 
Generally wears a full beard, which is now quite gray. He has a very good appearance, 
and looks like a sharp business man, with the exception of his eyes, which have an 
expression peculiarly their own. When off his guard he is quite nervous. 

RECORD. 

Langdon W. Moore, his right name, was born in the town of East Washington, 
N. H., in 1830. His parents, very respectable people, were in moderate circum- 
stances. His father was a farmer. From East Washington, N. H., the family 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 85 

moved to Newburyport, Mass., and remained there until Langdon was twelve years 
old, when the family moved to Lisbon, N. H. Langdon's mother died when he was 
fifteen. The father and children then moved to East Boston, where Langdon, when 
about twenty years of age, went to work in a currying establishment ; from there to a 
boot and shoe store on Pearl Street. Along in 1854 Moore went into the grocery 
business, in South Boston, for about three years; he then sold out this place and 
opened another on Eutaw Street. His second venture was not a profitable one ; and 
after paying all his creditors dollar for dollar, he gave up the grocery business and went 
into the express business. He afterwards sold out the express business and opened a 
liquor saloon on Broome Street, New York, where he remained for three years. He 
moved from Broome Street to Mercer, near Canal, where he remained for two years 
more. In 1857 he purchased a farm at Natick, Mass., of ninety-four acres, and 
increased it later on to one hundred and seventy acres ; this place he sold in 1866. In 
1 86 1 Moore bought an eating-house and saloon at No. 16 East Houston Street, New 
York City, which he managed until 1863, when he bought a house corner Houston and 
Crosby streets. He soon after left New York and went to the farm at Natick, Mass., 
which he carried on until October 10, 1865 — which is a very interesting fact to note — 
as the Concord National Bank was robbed on September 25, just fifteen days before 
Moore left the farm. From Natick he went to Paulsboro, N. J., where he 
remained six months, living as a man of means. He next appeared in Jersey City, 
where in May, 1866, he bought a house corner of Grand and Warren streets. He then 
began to speculate in horses, carriages, and about everything else that offered him a 
chance to turn a dollar. He lived at Jersey City and Bayonne, N. J., until the fall of 
1877, when he moved to Eighty-first Street, New York City. In 1866, while engaged 
in speculating, he was married at Bayonne, N. J., to Mrs. Rebecca Cunningham, the 
widow of Dad Cunningham and a daughter of old Bill Sturges, an old English sneak 
thief and pickpocket. Moore's wife was familiarly known as Becky Moore. In June, 
1877, Moore and his wife went to Toronto, Canada, where they remained until 
September ; from there to Hamilton, Ont. ; then to Niagara Falls, where they remained 
a month or two, and returned to New York in December, 1868. He bought out a 
livery stable and saloon on 125th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, New 
York City. This place he kept until May, 1870, the time of the robbery of the Lime 
Rock National Bank of Rockland, Maine. This bank was entered on the night of 
May 3, 1870. The parties engaged in this robbery were Charles B. Hight, Alden 
Litchfield, ex-policeman Kieser, John Black, John Graves, Joshua Daniels, Jack Rand 
and Langdon W. Moore. Kieser's part in the robbery was to get the policeman out 
of the way and get the men out of town after the robbery. He induced the policeman, 
whose suspicions had been aroused, to go to another part of the village, which gave 
the burglars a clear coast. The safe was blown and they secured about $23,000. 
Kieser took the men out of town with his team and concealed them in the woods, 
where he was to call for them on the following night. In the meantime he was under 
suspicion, and finally weakened and took the authorities to their hiding-place, where all 
hands were arrested (except Jack Rand, who escaped and went to Canada). Kieser, 
Black and Graves took the stand for the government, and Daniels and Hight managed 



86 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

to get the burden of responsibility thrown upon Moore. Moore and Hight 
subsequently pleaded guilty and took their sentences, Litchfield stood a trial, was 
convicted, and sentenced to four years. Daniels died in jail of consumption, not, as 
has been reported, from injuries received from the explosion of the bank safe. He 
was an outside man and was not in the bank at all, and the story that he was frightfully 
injured by the explosion is untrue. Moore was sentenced to the State prison at 
Thomaston, Maine, for six years in this case, but was pardoned for good behavior 
before he had served his full time. Becky Moore, his wife, managed his place in 125th 
Street, New York, until the lease expired in 1873, when she went to the corner of 
Eighth Avenue and Forty-sixth Street, and kept a place called the " Woodbine " until 
Moore's release from prison in 1876. Upon his discharge he went to the "Woodbine," 
and remained there until April, 1877, when he sold out and removed to Twelfth 
Street, where he kept a saloon until September, 1877, when he moved to No. 123 East 
Twenty-ninth Street. 

Moore was arrested again in New York City on October 24, 1877, with Kid Leary, 
charged with being concerned in the Cambridgeport, Mass., Bank robbery in September, 
1877. He was discharged in this case, as he could not be identified as one of the men 
in the robbery. The police of New York as well as Boston were at that time looking for 
the men that had robbed Mr. Garry of the latter city of $8,000 in United States bonds. 
This was one of the coolest transactions ever perpetrated in any city. Two men 
walked into the store of Mr. Garry, who was absent, and while one of them engaged 
the young lady attendant in conversation, the other one quietly removed the bonds 
from Mr. Garry's overcoat pocket almost under her eyes. Moore was arrested on 
October 25, 1877, i^^ New York City, and held until the young lady came on and 
identified him, and he was taken to Boston, tried and acquitted, on November 24, 1877. 
Moore returned at once to New York, but was unable to find his wife and children, whom 
he ascertained had been living with a man named Thompson, who was a witness 
for old Jimmy Hope in the Dexter Bank robbery. After searching in vain for them 
some time he learned that they frequented a saloon corner of Eighth Street and Sixth 
Avenue. Moore went there, laid in wait until half-past twelve o'clock at night, when 
he saw Thompson and Becky enter. Moore walked in, and Thompson attempted to 
draw a revolver, but was prevented from using it. Moore could not be pacified, and 
attacked Thompson with a knife, slashing his cheek and leaving an ugly scar. Moore 
was arrested in this case and held in $2,000 bail. The Grand Jury failed to indict him, 
and he was discharged in April, 1878. Moore's wife returned to him, and he went to 
Chicago, III, where he remained until December, 1878, when he returned to New York 
and went to live at No. 105 East Twenty-sixth Street, where he was arrested for the 
robbery of the Charlestown, Mass., Post-office in March, 1880. 

In the spring of 1865 Moore gave his attention to the Concord National Bank and 
the Middlesex Institution for Savings, both of which were located in the same building, 
in Concord, Mass. After considerable labor and visits to Concord, he succeeded in 
getting a key fitted to a heavy outside door. Moore had for an assistant Harry Howard, 
better known as " English Harry," a notorious cracksman, well known in London and 
New York. Harry soon obtained all the knowledge he required of the people in and 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 87 

around the bank, and on one occasion Moore and Harry went into the bank while the 
cashier was at dinner. They found that the cashier kept the combination of the safe 
marked in lead-pencil on the side of the safe. The next day was set to commit the 
robbery. Taking a fast horse, they drove from Framingham to Concord, shortly before 
noon. Moore went to a store almost opposite the bank and bought four pounds of nails, 
and then visited a saloon close by. It seems that he had his attention all the while 
directed to the bank, for as soon as the cashier closed the door of the bank to go to dinner 
he gave Harry the prearranged signal. Harry, with the aid of the duplicate key, soon 
had the door open, but while proceeding to enter was accosted by a little girl, who wanted 
to see the cashier. Harry told her the cashier had gone to dinner and would not be 
back until two o'clock, and then went coolly up stairs, shutting the door behind him. He 
soon opened the safe with the aid of the combination left behind by the cashier, and 
then ransacked the vault, which he locked when he got through. The property stolen 
consisted of $40,000 registered government bonds, $10,000 in Marlboro, Mass., registered 
bonds, $180,000 United States coupon bonds, and other securities — in all, amounting to 
$306,000. Harry placed his plunder in an old bag, and then coolly left the bank, locking 
the door after him. He was shortly after picked up by Moore in the wagon, and the 
pair started at breakneck pace for Framingham. Harry went to England and Moore to 
Canada. Moore was afterwards arrested at his home in Paulsboro, N. J. The officers 
started away with him. On the road Moore asked them on what conditions the bank 
would compromise the matter. He was told that he must give up all the proceeds of 
the robbery in his possession and disclose the hiding-place of " English Harry," who was 
known to have received $100,000 in money which had been realized from some of the bonds 
sold. As a result Moore went back with the detectives to his place at Paulsboro, and, 
going to his stable, ripped up the floor of one of the horse stalls, and handed over a glass 
jar covered with pitch and rubber, which was found to contain $79,000 in government 
bonds. He then proceeded down the bank of the Delaware River, and with a spade 
unearthed a square tin box which had been soldered tightly, in which was found $100,000 
more in bonds. Other sums were afterwards surrendered by him which made the total 
amount returned $202,331. The day this property was surrendered by Moore it was the 
intention of a woman named Hattie Adams, whom Moore was then living with, to have 
taken it and fled. Moore then tried to place "English Harry" in the hands of the 
authorities, and for that purpose had a "personal" placed in a New York paper. Harry 
never noticed it, although it was the method agreed upon to bring them together. Moore 
soon after broke up house on the Delaware. Hattie went to live with a man in Brooklyn, 
and soon after died, having been drowned in a hack, the horses of which had run away 
and jumped into the East River. It was after this that he (Moore) married Dad 
Cunningham's widow, who was afterwards known as Becky Moore. 

Moore, Ike Marsh, Charley Bullard, and another well known man, who has since 
reformed, were charged with robbing the messenger of the American Union Express 
Company on the Hudson River Railroad. They were all arrested in Canada, but finally 
discharged. 

The Cambridgeport Bank robbery was laid to Moore, but there never was evidence 
enough against him to warrant his arrest. He was assisted in this robbery by Johnny 



88 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

O'Brien, alias the " Kid," and a third party. The third party went into the bank and 
drew the cashier's attention away from the safe, when the " Kid " sneaked in and robbed 
it. It is also claimed that Moore was the prime mover in the Lechmere Bank robbery, 
in Cambridge, Mass., in March, 1878. It is a curious fact in: connection with this 
robbery that two gangs — one from Chicago, and the other from New York — were 
each awaiting an opportunity to commit this robbery, unknown to the other. The 
New Yorkers succeeded, but the Chicago parties were so close on them that they all 
stood in on the division of the spoils. Louise Jourdan, alias Little Louise, who was 
married to Tom Biglow at the time, was a leading spirit in this burglary. All the 
plunder, with the exception of about $12,000, was recovered and returned to the bank. 
Shortly before Moore's arrest for the Charlestown Post-office robbery it appears that he 
had formed a plan to rob the bank at Quincy, Mass. Both he and his partner, George 
Mason, alias Gardner, visited that institution, and got a look at the safe. Moore had 
received information that there was only one night-watchman in the town, and that 
he was employed in a factory some distance from the bank ; and furthermore, that 
there were no telegraph wires attached to the bank to give an alarm. The bank was 
pronounced a "soft job" by Moore, whose plans were frustrated by the arrest of 
Mason for the Charlestown (Mass.) Post-office robbery. Mason, after spending some 
time in jail, and finding that Moore, who had escaped, had done nothing for his family 
nor anything in the way of providing a lawyer for him, informed upon him, and he was 
arrested in New York City and charged with breaking and entering the Warren Insti- 
tution for Savinors — a bank in the Bunker Hill district of Boston, Mass., on December 
4, 1879. He was convicted in the Superior Criminal Court, before Judge Bacon, on 
March 18, 1880, and sentenced to ten years in State prison, for breaking and entering. 
On March 30 he was tried again, on another indictment, for having burglars' tools in 
his possession, and sentenced to six years — making sixteen years in all. He is now in 
Concord (Mass.) State prison. 

His picture is a good one, taken in 1880. 



23 
DANIEL WATSON, alias DUTCH DAN. 

BURGLAR, TOOL MAKER, AND KEY FITTER. 

.DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-one years old in 1886. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 186 
pounds. Machinist by trade. Single. Born in Germany or Prussia. Quite 
wrinkled forehead, dark hair, blue eyes, light complexion. Generally wears a goatee 
and mustache tinged with gray. Heavy lines on each side of nose to corner of mouth 
(nose lines). A cross-looking man. Has a sort of a suspicious look about him when 
he meets a stranger. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 89 

RECORD. 

" Dutch Dan," the name he is best known by, is considered one of the best key 
fitters in America. He is also an excellent toolmaker, and his many exploits would fill 
an ordinary sized book. 

Dan was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 11, 1881, in company of George 
Hall, alias Porter, a burglar and confidence man, Charles Lilly, alias Redman, and Bill 
Morris, alias Gilmore, burglars, charged with a silk burglary. Wax was found on Dan, 
with a key impression on it. Watson and Hall were each sentenced to two years in the 
Eastern Penitentiary on a charge of conspiracy on July 8, 1881 ; Lilly and Morris to 
one year. Watson makes a specialty of entering buildings and obtaining impressions 
of keys (which are sometimes hung up in a convenient place by the janitor or occupant 
of the premises). In this manner he collects a large number of impressions from which 
he makes duplicate keys. He then selects a number of expert burglars and fur- 
nishes them with a set of keys and a diagram of the place to be robbed. If the 
burglars are successful, he receives about twenty per cent, of the robbery for his 
share. He is known to have had as many as six parties of men to work at one time. 

Dan has spent fifteen years of his eventful life in Sing Sing, N. Y., Cherry Hill, 
Philadelphia, and other Pennsylvania prisons. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in 1878. 



24 

GEORGE MASON, alias GORDON, 

alias Gardiner. 

BANK BU RGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1886. Slim build. Height, 6 feet. Weight, 155 pounds. 
Born in Boston, Mass. Married. Black curly hair mixed with gray, dark blue eyes, 
sallow complexion. Wears a full black beard. Has a long scar on his left cheek, which 
is well covered by his beard. Has an anchor in India ink on his right fore-arm, and a 
heart on his left arm. 

RECORD. 

Mason, or George B. Gordon (his right name), was arrested on December 4, 1879, 
in an attempt to rob the Warren Institution for Savings and the Charlestown, Mass., 
Post-office. The robbery was planned by Langdon W. Moore, alias Charley 
Adams, Mason, who gave the name of Gardiner when arrested, and a New York 
burglar named John Love, alias Wells, and took place on the above date. The 
police became suspicious, and began an investigation. Love, the outside man, took 
fright and ran away, followed by Moore, who was in the building, but somehow or 



90 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

other managed to get out. Mason, who was also in the building, did not hear Moore 
when he left, and consequently was captured by the police. He was locked up, and 
while in jail made disclosures which led to the arrest of Moore in New York City. 
At the trial of Moore, Mason took the stand for the government and testified that this 
robbery was committed upon information obtained privately by Moore, who also had an 
eye on several other places in that city and vicinity. Mason, when arrested, gave 
the name of George B. Gardiner, but on the stand said his right name was 
Gordon. He has borne the names of Mason, Gardiner, Bennett, Graham, and 
about twenty others. He admitted that he was arrested in 1874 at Wellsboro, 
Pa., for a bank robbery there, and that he had been convicted for assault, burglary, 
and larceny. Mason is now, 1886, about forty-five years of age. He was born in 
the east end of Boston, and left there when young and went to New York, where 
shortly afterwards he was left an orphan. He began his checkered career in a small 
way, but soon adopted bank burglary, and in this line he has certainly figured to a 
considerable extent for the past twenty years. Before he was twenty years old he 
was convicted of robbing a bank in New York, and for this offense he served four 
years in Sing Sing prison. After the expiration of his term there in 1863, he was 
concerned in the robbery of the First National Bank of Wilmington, Del., where himself 
and partners, Jim Williamson and old Jimmy Hope, got $63,000. In 1865, Gordon, 
Ned Lyons, Jimmy Hope, and another man, one of the most dangerous combinations 
of cracksmen that was ever made in this country, broke into and robbed a savings bank 
in Baltimore, Md., of $25,000, and succeeded in eluding arrest. In i860, Gordon, 
Johnny Hughes, another man, and Ned Lyons broke into the Oldtown National Bank 
at Oldtown, Maine, and blew the vault open. The noise of the explosion, however, 
very fortunately alarmed the people of the town, and the burglars were forced to flee for 
their lives, and succeeded in reaching Bangor in safety. Just before this attempt the 
same party made an unsuccessful attempt to blow open the vault of a bank at 
Framingham Centre, Mass., but as at Oldtown, the explosion alarmed the town and 
they had to run for their lives. In 1869 Gordon, Hope, Lyons, Big Haggerty (now 
dead), and another man attempted to rob the National Bank at Rochester, N. H. 
They loaded the safe with a heavy charge of gunpowder and touched off the fuse. The 
force of the explosion was so great that the safe door was blown entirely off, and the 
building was so badly shaken that it partly fell down. The burglars had overdone their 
work, and the townspeople, hearing the report in the dead of the night, ran out to 
ascertain the cause ; their footsteps alarmed the burglars, who again had to make them- 
selves scarce. They soon after tried their luck again on the Townsend National Bank 
of Massachusetts, but the result was a failure, and they only succeeded in o-iving 
the town a scare and the newspapers a sensation. Gordon, Lyons, Hope, and Johnny 
Hughes then tried their skill on the vault of the Fairhaven National Bank of 
Massachusetts. Hope and Hughes were arrested and convicted, but Lyons and Gordon 
escaped, and with Mose Vogle, alias "Jew Mose," who has just (1886) finished serving 
a term of thirteen years for a bank robbery in New Jersey, and another man, made an 
attempt upon the vault of the Great Barrington Bank, and blew the vault down. The 
explosion alarmed the people ; they gave chase to the burglars, who made good their 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 9 1 

escape. They were more successful, however, a little later, when they succeeded in 
abstracting $200,000 from the safe of the Milford National Bank, at Milford, N. H. 
This was a masked burglary, and was well planned and carried out. Somewhat 
encouraged by the result of the Milford Bank, they next tried their hand on the Quincy 
National Bank of Quincy, 111., in 1874. A room over this bank was quietly hired by 
them, the flooring timbers were torn up, and they worked down into the vault by cutting 
through the top. Then they let Gordon down by a rope, and he reported that none of 
the securities could be reached until the safe was blown. He loaded the safe with 
gunpowder, using an air-pump. He then touched the fuse with a lighted match, and 
gave his partners the signal to draw him up. They did so, and when he was about 
half-way between the floor and the ceiling the charge was prematurely ignited. Gordon 
was pulled out nearly suffocated, and as black as a coal ; the party, however, got the 
safe open, and carried off about $200,000. Gordon, with another party, was concerned 
in the robbery of $160,000 from the Planters' Bank in Virginia, and it is well known 
that he was the prime mover in the Covington (Ky.) bank robbery. This bank had a 
large burglar and fire proof safe of the Hall pattern, which was loaded with four pounds 
of powder ; the explosion which followed was heard all over the city, and the vault was 
nothing but a mass of debris when the people reached the bank soon after. The back 
of the safe was forced out, and the money and securities were untouched, as the 
burglars were compelled to fly, leaving their anticipated booty, which they had no 
time to move. After this robbery Gordon was in prison several times. He was 
also concerned with old Jimmy Hope in the first but unsuccessful attempt on the 
Manhattan Bank in New York ; and after his failure at Great Barrington, Vt., he 
returned there and robbed a jewelry store of goods valued at $9,000, to make expenses. 
He was also imphcated in the Wellsboro, Pa., Bank robbery in September, 1874, when 
$90,000 was stolen. 

He was arrested on December 4, 1880, at Charlestown, Mass., as previously 
stated, turned State's evidence against Langdon W. Moore (22), who was sentenced to 
sixteen years, and Gordon to three years, on March 30, 1880, for assault and battery. 
The charge of burglary not being pressed, he was discharged from prison on November 
18, 1882. 

According to his own testimony he has been a thief and burglar for twenty-five 

years. 

Mason was arrested again in Philadelphia, with John Williams, on March i, 1883, 
charged with having burglars' tools in their possession. They were convicted on March 
15, 1883. They applied for a new trial, which was granted, and they were arraigned 
for trial again on October 30, 1883. By advice of counsel they pleaded guilty, and 
were sentenced to seven months in the penitentiary, to date from their former conviction 
(March 15, 1883), which made the State of Pennsylvania indebted to them fifteen days. 

Mason was arrested again in Hoboken, N. J., on September 2, 1885, for 
breaking and entering a house in Hudson County, N. J., and was sentenced to 
five years in Trenton prison on September 11, 1885, under the name of George Smith. 

Mason's picture is not a very good one, as it was taken under difficulties in 
December, 1880. 



92 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

26 
HORACE HOVAN, alias LITTLE HORACE. 

BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-seven years old in 1886. Medium build. Born in Richmond, Va. Very 
genteel appearance. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Dresses well. 
Married to Charlotte Dougherty. Fair complexion. A fine, elegant-looking man. 
Generally wears a full brown beard. 

RECORD. 

Horace Hovan, alias Little Horace, has associated with all the best bank sneaks 
in the country. In 1870 Horace, in company of a man that has reformed and is living 
honestly, and Big Ed. Rice (12), stole $20,000 from a vault in a Halifax (N. S.) bank. 
Hovan and this party were arrested, but Rice escaped with the money. The prisoners 
were afterwards released, as the money was returned to the bank. 

Horace was convicted under the name of W. W. Fisher, alias Morgan, for a bank 
sneak job in Pittsburg, Pa., and sentenced to two years and eleven months in the 
Western Penitentiary, at Alleghany City, on November 22, 1878. 

He was arrested on March 23, 1878, at Petersburgh, Va., with Rufe Minor, George 
Carson, and Charlotte Dougherty (Hovan's wife). See remarks of picture No. i. 

Arrested again March 31, 1879, at Charleston, S. C, for the larceny of $20,000 in 
bonds from a safe in the First National Bank in that city. He dropped them on the 
floor of the bank when detected and feigned sickness, and was sent to the hospital, 
from which place he made his escape. 

Arrested again October 16, 1880, in New York City, for the Middletown (Conn.) 
Bank robbery. See records of pictures Nos. i and 3. In this case he was discharged, 
as the property stolen was returned. 

Arrested again in June, 1881, at Philadelphia, Pa., with Frank Buck, alias Bucky 
Taylor (27), for the larceny of $10,950 in securities from a broker's safe in that city. He 
was convicted of burglary, and sentenced to three years in the Eastern Penitentiary, at 
Philadelphia, Pa., on July 2, 1881, his time to date back to June 6, 1881. He was 
pardoned out October 30, 1883, on condition that he would go to Washington, D. C, 
and testify against some officials who were on trial. He agreed to do so if the 
Washington authorities would have the case against him in Charleston, S. C, settled, 
which they did. He then gave his testimony, which was not credited by the jury. He 
remained in jail in Washington until May 10, 1884, when he was discharged. 

Hovan and Buck Taylor were arrested again on June 18, 1884, in Boston, Mass., 
their pictures taken, and then escorted to a train and shipped out of town. 

Hovan is a very clever and tricky sneak thief. One of his tricks was to prove an 
alibi when arrested. He has a brother, Robert Hovan (see picture No. 179), 
now (1886) serving a five years' sentence in Sing Sing prison, who is a good counterpart. 
The voices and the manners of the two men are so nearly alike, that when they are 



25 



26 



27 




HORACE HOVAN, 

ALIAS LITTLE HORACE, 

BANK SNEAK. 



AUGUSTUS RAYMOND, 

ALIAS GUS. RAYMOND, 

SNEAK AND FORGER. 



FRANK BUCK, 

ALIAS BUCKY TAYLOR, 

BANK SNEAK. 



28 



29 



30 




JOHN TRACY, 

ALIAS BIG TRACY— REILLY, 

PICKPOCKET, 
BURGLAR, AND SECOND STORY MAN. 



CHARLES WILSON, 

ALIAS LITTLE PAUL, 

SNEAK AND SHOP LIFTER. 



DAI//D GOLDSTEIN, 

ALIAS SHEENY DAVE, 

SNEAK AND SHOP LIFTER. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 93 

dressed in the same manner it is hard to distinguish one from the other. Horace has 
often relied on this. He would register with his wife at a prominent hotel, and make 
the acquaintance of the guests. About an hour before visiting a bank or an office 
Horace would have his brother show up at the hotel, order a carriage, drive out with 
his (Horace's) wife in the park, and return several hours later. Horace, in the interval, 
would slip off and do his work. If he was arrested any time afterwards, he would show 
that he was out riding at the time of the robbery. 

Horace Hovan is without doubt one of the smartest bank sneaks in the world. 

Latest accounts, the fall of 1885, say that he was arrested in Europe and sentenced 
to three years in prison for the larceny of a package of bank notes from a safe. 

His partner, Frank Buck, made his escape and returned to America. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in 1884. 



26 

AUGUSTUS RAYMOND, alias GUS RAYMOND, 

alias Arthur L. Barry. 

SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-three years old in 1886. Medium build. Born in United States. Single. 
Height, 5 feet 3^ inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Black hair, turning gray; dark 
brown eyes, dark complexion, round full face. Dresses well, and is a very gentle- 
manly person. 

RECORD. 

Raymond is a clever bank sneak, and a good general thief. He has plenty of 
nerve and works with the best people only. He is known in several of the large cities 
of the United States and in Canada. 

Arrested April 2, 1878, in New York City, for larceny of a trunk of jewelry. The 
facts are, that on May 12, 1877, the firm of Ailing Brothers & Co., of Worcester, 
Mass., shipped by rail a trunk containing $9,000 worth of jewelry from Worcester to 
Hartford, Conn., to their agent. On the road Raymond slipped into the baggage car 
and changed the checks on the trunk. On the arrival of the train at Hartford it was 
discovered that the trunk had been stolen. It was traced from Hartford, Conn., to a 
New York hotel, and from there to Baltimore, Md., where it was found empty. 
Thomas Leary, alias Kid Leary (6), was with Raymond and was the party that 
received the trunk at the hotel in New York, for which he was sentenced to five years 
in State prison, in New York City. Raymond was taken to Worcester, Mass., on 
April 18, 1878, and sentenced to five years in State prison there, on October 2, 1878, 
by Judge Aldrich. 

He has been arrested in several cities in the United States since his release — the 



54 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

last time was on February i6, 1886, in New York City, with Joe Elliott, alias Reilly 
(16), and George Wilkes, charged with forgery in Rochester, N. Y. Raymond was 
discharged and Elliott and Wilkes were taken to Rochester for trial. 

Raymond was arrested again in Philadelphia, Pa., on May 8, 1886, on suspicion of 
forging a check on the Third National Bank of Philadelphia, which he gave to a boy, 
who attempted to get the money at the bank. Raymond was not arrested until two 
days after, when the boy could not be found and he was discharged. 

Raymond's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1878. 



27 
FRANK BUCK, alias "BUCK" TAYLOR, 

alias Buck Wilson, alias George Biddle. 

BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-four years old in 1886. Born in Philadelphia, Pa. Married. Engineer. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 5 inches. Weight, 1 50 pounds. Light hair, gray eyes, 
light complexion. Three India ink dots on left hand, one on right hand. Bald on 
front of head. Generally wears a light-colored mustache, 

RECORD. 

" Buck" is a very clever bank sneak. He has been working with Horace Hovan, 
alias Little Horace (25), since 1881. He has also worked with Langdon W. Moore, 
alias Charley Adams (22), Johnny Price and other notorious bank sneaks. 

" Buck" was arrested in June, 1881, at Philadelphia, Pa., with Horace Hovan (25), 
for the larceny of $10,950 in securities from a broker's office in that city. He was convicted 
of burglary and sentenced to three years in the Eastern Penitentiary at Philadelphia 
with Hovan, on July 2, 1881. His time dated back to June 6, i88r. Hovan was 
pardoned. Buck served his time, and afterwards joined Hovan in Washington, D. C, 
in May, 1884. 

They both traveled around the country and were arrested coming out of a bank 
in Boston on June 18, 1884, and their pictures taken for the Rogues' Gallery. Buck and 
Hovan went to Europe in the spring of 1885, and Buck returned alone the same fall, 
Horace having been arrested there and sentenced to three years' imprisonment for the 
larceny of a package of money from a bank safe. 

Buck's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1884. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 95 

28 

JOHN TRACY, alias BIG TRACY, 

alias Reilly. 
PICKPOCKET, BURGLAR, AND SECOND-STORY MAN. 

DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-seven years old in 1886. Born in United States. Plumber by trade. 
Single. Stout build. Height, 6 feet i^ inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Dark brown 
hair, light complexion. Has a cross in India ink on right fore-arm. Generally wears a 
dark brown beard and mustache. Scar on back of hand. 

RECORD. 

" Big" Tracy does considerable "second-story" or house work, and is well known 
in New York, Chicago, and all the large cities. He has served considerable time in 
Eastern prisons — one term of five years from Troy, N. Y., for highway robbery, in 1878. 
(See Addenda.) 

He was arrested again in the spring of 1884, i^^ company of Billy Ogle (13), for 
robbing a residence on Jersey City Heights, N. J., of diamonds and jewelry valued at 
$1,500. They were both tried and convicted on June 26, 1884 ; their counsel obtained 
a new trial for them, and they were discharged in July, 1884. 

Tracy and Ogle went West, and in the fall of 1885 Ogle was arrested in Tennessee 
for "house work," and sentenced to the penitentiary for ten years. He shortly after 
escaped from a gang while working on the railroad. 

Tracy escaped arrest, and is now at large in the West. 

His picture is a good one, taken in 1877. (See records of Nos. 13 and no.) 

29 

CHARLES WILSON, alias LITTLE PAUL, 

alias Charles Willis. 
SNEAK AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-three years old in 1886. Stout build. Born in England. Not married. 
Height, 5 feet 2"% inches. Weight, 140 pounds. Brown hair, gray eyes, round full 
face, light complexion. Whiskers, when grown, are a little sandy. 

RECORD. 

"Little Paul" is quite a clever sneak and shoplifter. He was sent to State 
prison in New York City in January, 1878, and again on June 18, 1883, for four years, 
for larceny in the second degree, by Recorder Smyth. On November 14, 1883, in 
company of Frank Harrison, alias Frank Reilly (79), he escaped from the mess-room at 



96 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Sing Sing prison early in the morning, by sawing off the iron bars of a window and 
crawHng into the yard ; they then went to the west end of the prison wall, which projects 
over the Hudson River docks, and there, by means of a convenient float, reached the 
shore outside the prison wall, where they left their prison clothes and put on civilian's 
attire, that had been "planted" there for them some time before. Paul was re-arrested 
in New Orleans, La., on January 26, 1884, and returned to Sing Sing prison in February 
of that year. His full time will expire on June 17, 1887. 
His picture is a good one, taken in 1878. 

30 
DAVID GOLDSTEIN, alias SHEENY DAVE, 

-alias Lewis. 

SNEAK AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-two years old in 1886. A Jew, born in Poland. Married. No trade. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Dark complexion, black hair, 
dark eyes, cast in left eye. Black beard, when worn. Dresses well. Is very quick in 
his movements. 

RECORD. 

"Sheeny Dave," whose right name is David Levitt, is an old New York thief, and 
is pretty well known in all the principal cities of the United States. He has served 
time in State prison in a number of States. 

He was arrested In Buffalo, N. Y., on January 26, 1878, in company of a man 
who reformed about six years ago, for shoplifting (working jewelry stores), and both 
sentenced to one year's imprisonment in Auburn (N. Y.) prison. When his time 
expired he was taken to Baltimore, Md., for a crime committed there, but was not 
convicted. He was arrested again in New York City, under the name of James Lewis, 
on January 15, 1881, for the larceny of two pieces of blue silk from the store of Edward 
Freitman & Co., No. 473 Spring Street, valued at $140. For this offense, upon his 
plea of guilty, he was sentenced to two years and six months in State prison at Sing 
Sing, on April 12, i88r, by Judge Cowing. 

He was arrested again in New York City on December 21, 1883, under the name 
of Samuel Newman, for the larceny of a diamond bracelet, valued at $500, from Kirk- 
patrick, the jeweler, on Broadway, New York. He was indicted by the Grand Jury on 
January 10, 1884, and forfeited his bail on January 15, 1884. He was arrested again on 
September 30, 1884, in York County, Maine, for picking pockets, and sentenced to 
three years in prison at Alfred, Maine, under the name of Herman Lewis. 

For expiration of sentence, see commutation law of Maine. 

He is still a fugitive from justice, and is wanted in New York City. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in January, 1878. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 97 

31 
LOUIS R. MARTIN, alias MARTIN LUTHER. 

BOND FORGER AND COUNTERFEITER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Sixty-three years old in 1886. Born in United States. Horse dealer. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet lo^^ inches. Weight, 164 pounds. Gray hair, eyes dark gray 
and weak, complexion light. Is a fine, gentlemanly-looking man. 

RECORD. 

Martin was believed to be the capitalist of the Brockway gang of forgers and 
counterfeiters. He was well known by all the reputable horse and sporting men in 
this country, as a man of means engaged in the transportation of cattle between the 
United States, England and Australia. 

He was indicted in the United States Court of the Western District of Penn- 
sylvania in 1875, with an accomplice named Henry Moxie, alias Sweet, for passing 
counterfeit $500 notes. He was never tried. Previous to that time he had been known 
as an expert engraver and printer of counterfeits, under the name of Martin Luther. 
He made and owned the plate with which the $500 notes for which himself and 
Moxie were indicted were printed. He has been connected in several large counter- 
feiting schemes with William E. Brockway (32), J. B. Doyle, Nathan B. Foster, 
English Moore, and others. He is well known by the United States officers as a coun- 
terfeiter. 

Martin was arrested in New York City, on November 10, 1883, with Brockway (32) 
and Nathan B. Foster, charged with having in his possession forged $1,000 bonds 
of the Morris & Essex Railroad of New Jersey. At the time of his arrest, in the St. 
James Hotel, New York City, there was found in two valises in his room fifty-four 
$1,000 bonds of the above road, thirty-three of which had been numbered and signed 
ready for use. For this offense Martin was convicted, and sentenced to ten years in 
State prison, on August 6, 1884, by Judge Cowing, in the Court of General Sessions 
in New York City. His counsel obtained a stay of proceedings, and he was granted a 
new trial, and admitted to bail ; while confined in the Tombs prison from some cause 
he became totally blind. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in November, 1883. 



32 

WILLIAM E. BROCKWAY 

BOND FORGER AND COUNTERFEITER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Sixty-four years old in 1886. Born in Connecticut. Engraver by trade. Married. 
Tall, thin man. Height, 6 feet lyi inches. Weight, 162 pounds. Gray hair, blue 



98 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

eyes, light complexion. Long, thin neck. A remarkable looking man on account of 
his height and thinness. He has been a counterfeiter and forger since 1850. An 
account of all his transactions would fill this book. He is well known in all the principal 
cities in the United States, especially by the United States authorities. Wears a gray 
beard and mustache. He studied chemistry at Yale College, and later on became a 
printer and electrotyper. 

RECORD. 

Brockway and Charles Smythe were arrested in Brooklyn, N. Y., by the United 
States authorities on October 22, 1880, charged (in connection with one James B. 
Doyle, who was arrested in Chicago, 111., and sentenced to ten years on June 24, 1881) 
with forging and uttering $204,000 of United States government 6 per cent, coupon 
bonds of the denomination of $1,000, and a number of forged United States Treasury 
notes. The bonds and notes were found in Doyle's possession when arrested in 
Chicago, 111. Brockway was convicted by the evidence of Smythe, and sentenced to thirty 
years' imprisonment by the United States Court in New York City. Sentence was 
suspended in this case by the Judge, on Brockway undertaking to surrender all the 
plates for forging bonds and notes which he had in his possession or the whereabouts 
of which he knew, also to give up other counterfeit apparatus and give the authorities 
information about other schemes then on foot to defraud the government, all of which 
he did, and he was discharged from custody on November 27, 1880, by Judge Benedict, 
of the United States Court, with the understanding that if he ever was arrested again 
for forging or counterfeiting anything the property of the United States government, 
his suspended sentence would go into effect. 

Brockway was arrested again in New York City on November 10, 1883, pleaded 
guilty, and was sentenced to five years in State prison on March 5, 1884, by Recorder 
Smyth, for forging a number of Morris & Essex Railroad bonds. Nathan B. Foster 
and Louis R. Martin (31) were also arrested with Brockway in this transaction. 

Brockway's sentence will expire, allowing him full good time, on August 4, 1887. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in 1884. 



33 

TIMOTHY J. GILMORE. 



FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-eight years old in 1886. Born in United States. Widower. Clerk. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 175 pounds. Dark brown hair, brown eyes, 
ruddy complexion, high forehead. Generally wears brown mustache, cut short. 
Gilmore has three young sons who are now in an orphan asylum. 



31 



32 



33 




LOUIS R. MARTIN, 
FORGER. 



WILLIAM E. BROCKWAY, 
FORGER AND COUNTERFEITER. 



TIMOTHY J. GILMORE, 
FORGER. 



34 



35 



36 





RICHARD 0. DAVIS, 
CHECK FORGER. 



ROBERT S. BALLARD, 

ALIAS BULLARD, 

FORGER. 



EDWARD DARLINGTON, 
CHECK FORGER. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 99 

RECORD. 

GiLMORE is a professional forger, well known in New York and several of the 
Eastern cities. He is said to have formerly lived in St. Louis, Mo., and has served 
time in prison there. 

He was arrested in New York City on June 24, 1878, and sentenced to four years 
and six months in State prison for forgery. He was arrested again in New York City 
on February 7, 1884. Mr. Goodwin, a baker, of No. 228 Front Street, New York, 
identified Gilmore as the man to whom on July 30, 1883, he had sold ten barrels of 
bread for $25.22, and who gave him a check for $70 in payment. The check was 
worthless. Thomas A. O'Brien, bookkeeper for Fitzpatrick & Case, spice dealers, of 
No. 7 James Slip, New York, said that on December 11, 1883, Gilmore paid him a 
check for $80, signed " R. H. Macy & Co.," for $45 worth of tea. In this case he 
obtained $35 change. Gilmore pleaded guilty to both complaints, and was sentenced 
to eight years in State prison on March 5, 1884, in the Court of General Sessions, New 
York. 

Gilmore's picture is a good one, taken in 1878. 



34 
RICHARD O. DAVIS. 

CHECK FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Married. Born in United States. Cloth cutter 
by trade. Medium build. Fair complexion. Height, 5 feet 9^ inches. Weight, i6i 
pounds. Brown hair, brown eyes. Dresses well. Davis and his partner, No. 36, 
are considered clever people. They are well known in New York, BostQfl% ai^-*-in 
several other cities in the United States. 

RECORD. 

Davis was arrested in New York City on November 22, 1883, in connection with 
Edward Darlington (36) and Charles Preston, alias Fisher (41), charged with forging 
a check for $400, drawn on Harris & Co. The complaint wks made by Howes & Co., 
bankers. No. 11 Wall Street, New York City. He was committed in $2,000 bail by 
Justice Duffy. Davis pleaded guilty in the Court of General Sessions in New York 
City, and was sentenced to six years in State prison, t^n December 27, 1883. His 
sentence will expire, allowing him his |ulJLcommutation time, on February 26, 1888. 

This man and his partner, Darlington, had been traveling around the country for 
some time, before their arrest in NeV York City, passing forged checks. • 

His picture is a good one, taken in 1883. 



lOO PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

35 

ROBERT S. BALLARD, alias BULLARD, 

alias Maltby, alias Riggs. 

FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-nine years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Married. Physician. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 6J^ inches. Weight, 137 pounds. Dark hair mixed with gray,, 
blue eyes, dark complexion. Has a wart on left side of his nose. 

RECORD. 

Ballard, alias Harvey C. Bullard, alias W. C. Russell, alias Henry C. Maltby,. 
was arrested in New York City on March 31, 1883, for swindling Ferdinand P. Earle, 
of Earle's Hotel, out of $150 by means of a worthless check. He was also charged 
with bigamy and swindling. He was at one time a practicing physician, and connected 
with bne of the New York hospitals. He was also wanted at the time of his arrest for 
swindling by the use of bogus checks and other devices, in New York City, Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y., Providence, R. I., Baltimore, Md., Atlantic City, N. J., Brooklyn, N. Y., 
and Philadelphia, Pa. In 1881 he married a Miss Amelia Black, at Poughkeepsie, and 
deserted her a few days afterward. In November, 1882, he married Miss Annie Van 
Houten in Baltimore, and brought her to New York, where he deserted her at Earle's 
Hotel, after swindling the proprietor. At the time of his arrest, in his valise was found 
hundreds of bogus checks and drafts, signed R. S. Ballard, Riggs & Co., R. S. 
Riggs, W. C. Riggs & Co., for sums ranging from $500 to $6,000, all bearing recent 
dates ; and also a large number of check and bank books. One of the latter showed an 
alleged deposit of $15,900 in the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York. Another exhibited 
a credit of $10,600 on a Tarrytown, N. Y., bank, and the third represented a deposit of 
$14,594 in the Western International Bank of Baltimore, Md. He had checks of banks 
in nearly every prominent city in America. The Bankers' and Brokers' Association 
offered a reward of $1,000 for his arrest under the name of W. C. Russell. 

Ballard pleaded guilty on May 2, 1883, in the Court of General Sessions, New York 
City, aiid was sentenced to five years in State prison by Recorder Smyth. His, 
sentence e^.pires, c Uowing him full commutation, on December i, 1886. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in 1883. 



36 

EDWAPD DARLINGTON. 

CHECK FORGER. 

LHSf 'RiPTION. 
Thirty-three years old in 1880. j3orn in England. Medium build. Not married. 
Height, 5 feet Z^i inches. Weight, 13L pounds. Sandy hair, blue eyes, sallow com- 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA, lOl 

plexion. Genteel appearance. Known in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and several 
other cities in the United States. 

RECORD. 

Darlington was arrested in New York City on November 21, 1883, in connection 
with Richard O. Davis (34) and Charles Preston, alias Fisher (41), charged with forging 
the name of J. J. Smith to a check for $700 on the Continental Bank, No. 6 Nassau 
Street, New York City. He was committed in $2,000 bail by Justice Duffy. 

Darlington pleaded guilty in the Court of General Sessions, New York City, and 
was sentenced to nine years in State prison on December 27, 1883. His sentence 
will expire, allowing him full commutation time, on November 26, 1889. 

This man, who no doubt is the cleverest of the three, and his partner (34), had 
been traveling through the country for some time, victimizing people with forged 
checks. At the time of his arrest in New York he was wanted in Boston, Mass., for a 
similar transaction. 

His picture is a good one, taken in 1883. 



37 

ALBERT WILSON, alias AL. WILSON, 

alias E. R. Marshall. 

FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-four years old in 1886. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 654! inches. Weight, 
1 70 pounds. Brown hair, slightly bald on top of head ; wears light brown mustache 
and whiskers, generally cut short. Prominent nose, which is inclined to be hooked. 
Has a gunshot wound on back of left fore-arm ; also a small scar half an inch long on 
lower lip, which runs down from corner of mouth, left side. Speaks- in a* calm, easy 
tone. Born in State of Louisiana. 

RECORD. 

Al. Wilson is well known in many of the Eastern cities as an "^j?e.rt burglar and 
shoplifter, and has served two terms of imprisonment for the aBbve' offenses. * He after- 
wards became an expert negotiator of forged paper of every description, and was known 
to the authorities of several cities as a member of " Brockway's Gang of Forgers." 
He also was identified with George Wilkes, George Engles (deceased), and Charley 
Becker, with whom he left for Europe in the spring of 1880, for the purpose of nego- 
tiating forged circular notes. This scheme failed, and he returned to America aboul 
August 15, 1880. 



I02 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA.- 

Wilson was arrested in New York City on October i8, 1880, and delivered to the 
police authorities of Baltimore, Md., charged, in connection with Henry Cleary, George 
Bell (193), and Charles O. Brockway (14), with forging and uttering checks amounting 
to $10,051 on the Merchants' National Bank and the Third National Bank of Baltimore, 
Md., on July 16 and 17, 1880. One check for $2,160, another $3,901, and another of 
$1,300, were drawn to the order of J. Hunter and others, and, with the forged signature 
of J. H. Fisher, were presented at the Merchants' National Bank ; and a check for 
$1,394, and another for $1,296, drawn to the order of J. W. Kimball, and bearing 
the forged signature of Middleton & Co., of Baltimore, were presented at the Third 
National Bank. All five of these checks were paid on presentation. 

Wilson pleaded guilty to two cases of forgery, and he was sentenced to two 
years on each indictment (making four years in all), on November 3, 1880, by 
Judge Pinkney, at Baltimore, Md. Shortly after his release from prison in Maryland 
he was arrested in Milwaukee, Wis. (June 26, 1884), under the name of Edward R. 
Marshall, charged with attempting to pass forged fifty-pound Bank of England notes. 
As he had failed to get rid of any of them there, he was delivered over to the Chicago 
(111.) authorities, who wanted him for disposing of some of the same notes. He was 
taken to Chicago, and escaped from a police station there on July 5, 1884, and went to 
England, where a gang was organized consisting of George Wilkes, George Engles, 
Charley Becker, Siiell Hamilton, William Bartlett, Edward Burns, Edward Cleary, 
George Bell, and himself ; and, as above referred to, they entered into a gigantic scheme 
to flood France, Germany and Italy with forged circular notes, full particulars of which 
appear in the record of George Wilkes. A reward of one hundred dollars was offered 
for his arrest by the chief of police. 

Al. Wilson, alias W. H. Hall, registered at St. Lawrence Hall in Montreal, Canada, 
on May 18, 1885, and on May 19 he went to the Bank of British North America and 
asked the manager of the bank to cash him a letter of credit for fifty pounds on the 
Union Bank of Scotland. He said that "he had fifteen hundred pounds more which 
he would like to have cashed in a few days." The manager became suspicious and 
detained him, and sent for an officer, who arrested him when leaving the bank. One 
Robert Fox, a Scotchman, was arrested with him. He is about fifty-five years old. 
Height, 5 feet 75^ inches. Weight, about 190 pounds. Stout build. Gray hair. Side 
whiskers and mustache, generally dyed black. Very bald. Sharp features. Round 
shoulders, and slightly stooped. Fox did not attempt to pass any of the letters of 
credit, but when arrested a large package of the letters was found on his person. He 
tried to destroy them, but was prevented by the officers. Wilson claimed that all the 
letters belonged to him, and that Fox had nothing to do with them. Wilson pleaded 
guilty on June 6, 1885.' Fox was tried and found guilty on June 9, 1885. On June 13, 
1S85, Wilson was sentenced to twelve years in St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary, and 
Fox was sentenced to six years. 

Wilson's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1880. 



37 



33 



39 




ALBERT WILSON, 
FORGER. 



CHARLES J. EVERHARDT, 

ALIAS MARSH MARKET JAKE, 

SNEAK AND FORGER. 



ROBERT BOWMAN, 

ALIAS HOGAN, 

FORGER. 



40 



41 



42 




CHARLES R. TITUS. 

ALIAS DR. THOMPSON, 

FORGER. 



CHARLES FISHER, 

ALIAS PURDY, 

SNEAK AND FORGER. 



EDWARD A. CONDIT, 
BOGUS CHECKS. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 105 

38 

CHAS. J. EVERHARDT, alias MARSH MARKET 

JAKE, 

alias Hartman, alias Peters, alias McGloin, alias Cook, 

alias HiLLBURN. 

SNEAK AND FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1886. Single. Slim build. Born in Baltimore, Md. High 
forehead. Height, 6 feet. Weight, 159 pounds. Brown hair, bluish gray eyes, sallow- 
complexion. Wears mustache and beard of sandy color. Has a bright eye. Has an 
anchor in India ink, a letter "J " and dot on left fore-arm. He is known in Canada as 
Charles Webb and Charles Young. 

RECORD. 

Marsh Market Jake, the sobriquet he is best known by, has followed as a business 
all professions in the thieving line, beginning with till-tapping when a boy, and going 
up through the various grades of pickpocket, shoplifter, burglar, sneak and forger. 
During his lifetime he has served about fifteen years in prison, five years of which was 
spent in the Kingston, Canada, Penitentiary. When out of prison he works with the 
most expert thieves in the country, and it is only since his last release from Kingston 
prison that he has entered into the profession of forgery. Jake is well known in all the 
principal cities in the United States, especially in New York, Boston, Baltimore, 
Cincinnati and Chicago, 111., where he formerly lived with Mary Ann Taylor, an old 
and accomplished thief. For the past twenty-five years, Everhardt, which is his right 
name, has been one of the most notorious and industrious sneak thieves in America. 
He originally came from Baltimore, where he was born in the immediate neighborhood 
of the " Marsh Market," in that city, and it is from this fact that he derives the name 
that he is best known by. 

On April 16, 1880, Jake, under the name of Wm. Hillburn, was arrested in 
Philadelphia, Pa., in company of three noted sneak thieves, Billy Morgan (72), Little 
Al Wilson and George Williams, alias Woodward (194)— they gave the names/oi 
Roberts, Carroll and Moran — for the larceny of $2,200 in bank bills, the property of 
Henry Ruddy of that city. They tried to obtain their release by a writ on April 19, 
1880, but failed. The whole party was convicted and sentenced to eighteen months in 
the Eastern Penitentiary on April 26, 1880. Jake served another term of three 
months in the penitentiary at Philadelphia, having been arrested there as a professional 
thief, and convicted on a charge of vagrancy. 

Everhardt finished a three years' sentence in the spring of 1885, in Kingston, 
Canada, Penitentiary, under the name of Charles Webb, for robbing a Toronto jeweler. 



I04 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

He had previously been convicted in Toronto for shoplifting, in company of four 
notorious shoplifters named Eddie Miller (7), Sheeny Sam, Tilly Miller and Black Lena. 
This time he gave the name of Yost, and served five years. 

Jake was arrested again in New York City on October 22, 1885, in company of 
Charles Fisher, alias Fountain (41), Walter Pierce, alias Porter, and Charles Denken 
(the man who did the forging), charged with forging a check for $460 on the Bank of 
New York, purported to have been signed by Leaycraft & Co., of Pearl Street, New 
York City. Denken confessed that he received a check for $25 from the firm, from 
which he forged the $460 check, and gave It to Fisher, who gave it to Pierce, who had 
it cashed. In this case all the others were convicted except Jake, who was discharged, 
but was re-arrested at once on an indictment which the Corn Exchange Bank and the 
Bank of America, of New York City, caused to be found against him (on the evidence 
of Nelson J. Gaylor and two boys named Philip Dreiger and Leonard Nickerson, who 
were accomplices) for forging a check of $500, drawn on the German American Bank 
and purported to have been signed by Baltzer & Lichtenstein, a private banking firm 
in New York City. On this particular charge Jake was tried, found guilty, and sentenced 
to ten years in State prison on January 7, 1886, by Judge Gildersleeve, in the Court of 
General Sessions In New York City. There were other complaints from the Bank of 
America and Corn Exchange Bank, which were not tried. His counsel appealed the case, 
and Everhardt has remained in the Tombs prison since his conviction. Efforts were 
made to have him admitted to bail, without success. 

His picture Is an excellent one, taken in 1885. 



39 

ROBERT BOWMAN, alias J. C HOGAN, 
alias George Munroe. 

FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-six years old in 1886. Height, 5 feet 9^^ inches. Gray eyes, gray whiskers 
and mustache. Complexion medium. Stooped shoulders. Looks hump-backed. 
Hi^h forehead. Bald on front of head. Scars on bridge of nose, back of neck, and 
between the shoulder-blades. Born in New York. Weight, 140 pounds. 

RECORD. 

Bowman was an associate of Wm. H. Lyman, a notorious forger, who died in 
prison in 1883. Both of them were sent to Clinton prison, New York State, for four 
years and six months in August, 1878, for forgeries committed in Catskill, N. Y. 

Bowman and Lyman were again arrested at Hudson, N. Y., on September 16, 1881, 
and taken to Fitchburg, Mass., where they were sentenced to prison for three years for 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 105 

forging drafts on the American Express Company, at that place. They were also 
charged with raising drafts that were drawn by the National Bank of St. Albans, Vt., 
on the Park Bank of New York City. Also with forging a draft, on September 5, 1881, 
on Clipperly, Cole & Haslehurst, Troy bankers. When arrested $1,200 in money was 
found on them. 

Bowman was arrested again in Chicago, 111., on January 14, 1886. About January 
6, 1886, a man giving the name of J. F. Hall, presented to the Floyd County Savings 
Bank, of Charles City, Iowa, a draft payable to himself, purporting to have been drawn 
by the First National Bank of Joliet, 111. Hall also had a letter of introduction from 
the Joliet bank ; the draft was deposited to his credit, and on January 9, 1886, he wrote 
to the Floyd County Bank from Chicago, enclosing his receipt for the draft, and asking 
that the money be sent to him by the United States Express. It was sent, and when 
Hall called for it he was arrested and recognized as Bowman. One of the detectives 
went to Fort Wayne, Ind., where Hall had lived, and captured the latter's valise, in 
which was found a large number of counterfeit checks and certificates. It was estimated 
that Bowman and his gang had defrauded the banks in the western country out of 
$50,000. 

Bowman's case in Chicago, 111., was nolle prosequi, by Judge Rogers, on June i, 
1886, because the State's attorney was unable to obtain sufficient evidence to convict 
him of the forgeries committed there. 

He was discharged, and immediately re-arrested and taken to Vermont, where he 
was committed for trial, charged with having committed forgeries on the First National 
Bank of Brandon, Vt., the Vermont National Bank, the Rutland County National Bank, 
of Rutland, Vt., and the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank of Burlington, Vt. These 
forgeries were committed in 1881, by Bowman and Ned Lyman, and amounted in the 
aggregate to $30,000. 

Bowman's picture is a good one, taken in 1886. 



40 
CHARLES R. TITUS, alias DOCTOR THOMPSON. 

FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-three years old in 1886. Born in United States. Slim build. Dark 
complexion. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 135 pounds. Black hair, brown 
eyes. Wears a full black beard. Married. A fine, genteel appearinfman. ■ Well 
known in most of the Eastern cities and in Canada. "- 

RECORD. 

" Doc" Titus was arrested in New York City on November 26, 1878, in connection 
with one Lester Beach (17), for having obtained $70 from Morris Steinhart, No. 65 
Hudson Street, New York City, on a bogus certified check on the Bank of New York. 



io6 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Beach when arrested stated that he obtained the check from Titus. Titus is a very 
clever forger, and has been mixed up in several transactions in paper. He is a warm 
friend of Charles B. Orvis, of Buffalo, New York and Erie bond fame. 

Titus was arrested again in New York City on September ii, 1879, "^'^^ one 
Samuel J. Hoyt, a real estate and insurance broker, charged with having in their 
possession a forged check on the Bank of America for $100,000, with intent to utter 
the same. It was drawn to the order of John B. Baker, trustee, dated September 11, 
1879, and purported to have been signed by J. B. Colgate & Co., a banking firm on 
Wall Street. It appears that one J. B. Baker was introduced to the accused by Charles 
B. Orvis. He, as alleged, was informed that the check was genuine, and that some of 
the employes of Colgate & Co. were implicated in its procurement. Titus, it was 
claimed, handed the check to Hoyt, who handed it to Baker, and requested him to buy 
four per cent. United States bonds for it. Baker, who it appears was in the employ of 
Colgate & Co., took the check to them, and they pronounced it a forgery. The arrest 
followed, and Titus and Hoyt were committed in $10,000 bail for trial. 

Hoyt pleaded guilty to the charge on January 30, 1880, and was used by the 
authorities as a witness against Titus, who was tried, convicted, and sentenced to two 
years in State prison on January 31, 1880, by Recorder Smyth, in the Court of General 
Sessions at New York City. 

Titus' picture is an excellent one, taken in 1880. 



41 

CHARLES FISHER, alias PURDY, 
alias Fountain, alias Palmer. 

BANK SNEAK AND FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Twenty-seven years old in 1886. Medium build. Hatter by trade. Dark com- 
plexion. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 140 pounds. Black hair, blue eyes ; dot 
of India ink on right hand; mole on right elbow. High forehead. Very quick in his 
movements. Born in Germany. 

RECORD. 

, Charles Fisher has been a thief since he was twelve years old. This worthy's 
life is best told by a letter which he wrote while confined in the Tombs prison, New 
York, in December, 1878, for breaking a window. 

Here is the communication he penned to Judge Otterbourg on December 18, 1878 : 

"I was requested by a gentleman to give a brief history of my life. I was born in March, 1859, in 
Germany. When five years of age I was sent to a public school, and remained there for three years. 
When I was seven years of age my father gave me lessons in Latin. When I left the public school my 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 107 

father put me in a Latin school. I was there four years, and while I was there I was boarding in a Fran- 
ciscan convent, with about sixty others. At four o'clock every day we used to get a pint of ale, and I was 
not there six months before I was able to drink two quarts in as many hours. I only remarked this to let 
you understand better afterward that I knew how to spend money like a man three times my age. I made 
my examination for a higher class in 1870, but I failed, being intoxicated the night before I made it. My 
father would not allow me to repeat the class, but sent me to a commercial school. Wealthy men from 
several parts of the world sent their sons to this institution. My father allowed me a certain amount of 
pocket money, which ought to have been enough for me, but I wanted to live as fast as those foreigners. 
Two miles from the school my grandfather practised as county doctor, and there I went every Sunday and 
stole $5 or $6 from him every time. I was not found out for a year and 'a half, when I was detected at 
last (the term at school was just ended) and sent home to my father, who gave me a sound thrashing and 
locked me up for some weeks in my room. When I stole from my grandfather I stole for the first time. 
My father then sent me to a friend of his, a wholesale druggist. There I met some friends who had been 
my former companions. I wanted to keep up my reputation as a fast boy, and I could not do it with my 
allowance of pocket money. I had no grandfather to steal from now, but had to find out another way to 
get it. A part of my work was to deliver and receive the mail. I cashed different money orders, the 
amount always being between $20 and $50. I was detected after two months' stealing and sent home to 
my father. When I arrived at home I was astonished to see my father's face calm, but icy. Next day he 
told me that I was going to the United States, although my mother and the rest of my relatives were against 
it. As soon as everything was ready for departure he took me to Bremen and put me on board of a ship. 
He gave me $250. It did not take me long to find out those free and easy places along the Bowery and 
Chatham street. There I made the acquaintance of thieves— males and females. I very seldom stole with 
them, but stole all alone until my arrest and conviction to the House of Refuge stopped it rather suddenly. 
After serving one and a half years I was discharged. Having behaved myself very badly I had quite a 
reputation among the young thieves of New York. I was out only a month and I commenced the old 
career over again. I stole steadily from October, 1875, till October, 1876, and got along first rate. On the 
9th of October, 1876, I was arrested for grand larceny, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to State prison 
for two and a half years. I took it as easy as any man could take it. The first few months I behaved 
myself badly, being punished no less than five times in three months. When I received letters from home 
and heard that my mother was dying I was watching for opportunities to escape, but the keeper had his eye 
on me continually on account of my bad behavior. My mother begged me to lead an honest life. I prom- 
ised her to do so, and I meant it at the time I made it, and I mean it yet. My mother begged my father to 
take me home after I had served my term. When I was discharged from Sing Sing prison my father had 
not sent me the money as he promised to do, but I was full of courage and hope, because I thought a man 
must get work if he would try hard. Even an errand boy is expected to have references, and it would 
never do to show them my prison discharge. I was discharged on the nth of October, 1878J and I have 
lived on bread and a cup of coffee once in a while, until I came here. My object of getting arrested was 
to get a place to stay until I could get relief from home. My father accused my mother after her death 
that she spoiled me, and I want to show him that my dead mother has sufficient influence over me by keep- 
ing my promise to her; and I mean to keep it, so help me God." 

Fisher obtained employment through the intercession of Judge Otterbourg — how 
well he kept his promise, and how strong his desire was to reform, will be seen by what 
follows. 

Not long after he returned into the old channels, and shortly after obtained 
considerable notoriety as a middle man, between the maker and utterer of forged 
checks, etc. Next heard from him was in Chicago, 111., in 1879, where he was arrested 
with four other forgers. It was discovered that the "gang" had passed forged checks 
on nearly all the banks in Chicago. Fisher pleaded guilty and took the stand against 
his associates, who were all convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. 
Fisher was discharged on promise to leave the State, which he did, and he came to New 



io8 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

York City. He was shortly after arrested on a charge of larceny, and sentenced to 
Blackwell's Island for six months. On his liberation he went back to his old associates 
in the forgery business, and was shortly after arrested in New York City for being 
concerned with three others in a scheme to defraud the banks of that city by means of 
forged checks. In this instance, as before, he saved himself by turning State's evidence 
and convicting his associates. The next that was heard of him was his arrest in 
Boston, Mass., on August 19, 1885, with Jake Everhardt, alias Marsh Market Jake 
(38), coming out of one of the banks there. No case being made out against them 
they were discharged. He was arrested again in New York City on October 23, 1885, 
with Everhardt, Charles Denken and Walter Pierce, alias Porter, charged by Leaycraft 
& Co., of Pearl Street, New York, with forging a check of the firm for $460 on the 
Bank of New York. In this case Fisher, Denken and Pierce were convicted and 
sentenced to ten years in State prison each on November 18, 1885, by Recorder Smyth, 
in the Court of General Sessions, New York City. Everhardt was discharged, 
re-arrested, and convicted in another case. See his record. No. 38. 
Fisher's picture is a very good one, taken in 1885. 



42 
EDWARD A. CONDIT. 

SWINDLER BY BOGUS CHECKS. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-one years old in 1886. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 11 inches. Weight, 
167 pounds. Dark brown hair, hazel eyes, long pointed nose, sallow complexion. Has 
a scar on right side of neck. Small dark mole on left cheek. Prominent eyebrows. 

RECORD. 

Edward A. Condit, a swindler who had a peculiar method of dealing in worthless 
checks, was arrested in New York City on March 2, 1883. Condit's manner of doing 
business was to inquire by letter the terms upon which a broker would deal in a stock, 
and then ordering him to buy or sell, giving as margin a check on the Orange (N. J.) 
Savings Bank. Condit had only a small amount on deposit in that bank, but owing to 
the time required for the passage of the check through the Clearing-house, and other 
delaying causes, several days elapsed before its worthless character was exposed, and he 
was enabled to reap the benefit of the fluctuations in the price of the stock within the 
time required to collect the check. If the stock moved to his advantage, he contrived 
to meet or intercept the check, and take the benefit. If the transaction went against 
him, he allowed the check to go to protest, so that the broker was the loser. 

Condit has a pleasing address, and is apparently a man of some education. He 
gave a short history of his life after confessing his operations. He said that he inherited 
a small fortune in 1869, which in the course of the next two years he increased to 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 1 09 

$100,000. He began to speculate in Wall Street in 1872. At first he was successful, 
but after the "panic" he began to lose, and by 1876 he was a beggar. Then it was 
that he attempted to retrieve his losses by the mode described above. 

When arrested on March 2, 1883, he was committed for trial by Judge Cowing, but 
was turned over to the Jersey City police authorities in October, 1884. On December 
I, 1884, he made a nearly successful attempt to escape from the Hudson County Jail, 
on Jersey City Heights, where he was confined awaiting trial for swindling several 
storekeepers in Jersey City by worthless checks. He was convicted on December 24, 
1884, and sentenced, January 23, 1885, to four years in State prison at Trenton, N. J., 
where he was taken on June 28, 1885. 

Condit's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1884. 



43 
WILLIAM FALE, alias BROOKS. 

HOTEL THIEF AND SLEEPING-CAR WORKER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Fifty-five years old in 1886. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 7J4; inches. Weight, 

150 pounds. Dark brown hair, gray eyes, dark complexion. Wears a brown mustache. 

A German. Baker by trade. 

RECORD. 

Fale, or Brooks, is an old hotel and sleeping-car worker, and is pretty well known 
in the principal Eastern and Southern cities, where he has been arrested and convicted 
for similar offenses. 

He was arrested at the Grand Central Railroad depot, in New York City, on 
December 23, 1874, for the larceny of a gold watch and chain from a sleeping-car. He 
was tried, convicted, and sentenced, in the Court of General Sessions, to four years in 
State prison on January 18, 1875. His manner of working was to meet the in-coming 
trains in the morning by walking up the railroad yard, jump on them, and rob the 
berths, while the persons who occupied them were washing and getting ready to leave. 

Fale's picture is a fair one, taken in 1874. 



44 
CHARLES HYLEBERT, alias CINCINNATI RED, 

alias Red Hyle. 
HOTEL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 153 
pounds. Red hair and whiskers, when grown ; florid complexion. Butcher by trade. 



no PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

He is a great hand for disguising himself. His red beard grows very rapidly, and he 
could appear from time to time in cockney style, with long flowing side-whiskers, or 
with simple mustache, or with smooth face, as he might choose. He is quite genteel- 
looking. 

RECORD 

Red Hyle, or Cincinnati Red, is one of the most celebrated hotel thieves in this 
country. He was born and raised in Cincinnati, and when a boy learned the butcher's 
trade. He was called Red Hyle, on account of his red hair and florid face. He has 
been a professional thief for fifteen years. For many years this clever thief has robbed 
hotels all over the United States. He made Cincinnati his home, and his wife and 
children reside there now. 

Hyle seldom works with a partner, preferring to work alone since he and 
William Carter, alias Three-Fingered Jack, were arrested and sentenced to the Georgia 
penitentiary for five years, in 1880, for a hotel robbery in Atlanta. Joe Parish (84) 
was implicated in this robbery, but returned the property and was discharged. Parish 
was subsequently sent to an Illinois penitentiary for robbing a bank. Hyle was released 
from the Georgia prison, and was next heard from in Washington, D. C, on March 6, 
1885, where he was arrested on suspicion of committing several hotel robberies there 
during the inauguration week. He was charged with stealing a watch and chain, value 
$65, from the room of one S. M. Briggs, in the St. James Hotel, and was committed in 
default of $3,000 bail for a further hearing. This case was not tried, as Hyle was 
arrested on the cars at Indianapolis, Ind., for grand larceny, stealing a valuable watch 
and chain from A. P. Miller, of New York, at the Circle House, in Indianapolis, on 
June 17, 1885. He was found guilty after a strongly contested trial, and sentenced to 
four years in the Northern State prison at Michigan City, on July 18, 1885. 

Red Hyle generally managed to keep on the right side of the detectives while in 
Cincinnati, on the ground that he was not stealing anything in that city. He gave the 
officers considerable information about other thieves. There is no doubt that many a 
professional thief in this country will be glad to hear that Red Hyle, after dodging the 
Northern penitentiaries for so many years, has at last been sent to State prison. 

Hyle's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1885. 



45 
EDWARD STURGESS, alias HYATT, 

alias HoYT. 

HOTEL TH IFF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Slim build. Claims to have been born in Havana, 
Cuba. Married. No trade. Height, 5 feet 9 J^ inches. Weight, 137 pounds. Brown 



43 



44 



45 




WILLIAM FALE_ 

ALIAS BROOKS, 

HOTEL THIEF. 



CHARLES HYLEBURT. 

ALIAS RED HYLE, 

HOTEL THIEF. 



EDWARD STURGESS, 

ALIAS HYATT, 

HOTEL THIEF. 



46 



47 



48 



k 




FRANK AUBURN, 
BOARDING HOUSE THIEF. 



EMILE VOEGTLIN, 
HOTEL AND BOARDING HOUSE THIEF. 



EDWARD FAIRBROTHER, 

ALIAS DOCTOR WEST, 

HOTEL THIEF. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. HI 

hair, blue eyes, light complexion. Full, light-colored whiskers and mustache. Two 
dots of India ink on left fore-arm. 

RECORD. 

Sturgess is a very clever hotel worker, well known in most of the large cities in 
the United States. He was at one time a pickpocket, but now confines himself to 
hotel work. 

He was sentenced to three years and six months in State prison in New York City, 
on February 20, 1871, for larceny from the person, under the name of Edward Hoyt. 
He was was again sentenced in New York City on June 2, 1873, to three years in State 
prison, under the name of Edward Sturgess, for a hotel robbery. While confined in 
prison in 1873, Sturgess escaped in a swill barrel, but was recaptured the same day and 
taken back. Nothing has been heard of him lately, having gone West in October, 
1877, when he escaped from an officer in New York City, who was arresting- him for 
forfeiting his bail in an old case. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in 1877. 



46 
FRANK AUBURN, alias JOHN F. AUSTIN. 



BOARDING-HOUSE SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Twenty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Medium build. Single. 
Height, 5 feet 5 inches. Weight, 1 20 pounds. Brown hair, gray eyes, dark complexion. 
No trade. Has busts of boy and girl, and two hearts with words " You and me " on 
them, in India ink, on right fore-arm. 

RECORD. 

Auburn is quite a clever boarding-house thief, but does not confine himself to 
that work entirely. He is well known in New York and Boston. He was arrested in 
New York City on November i, 1883, for petty larceny from a boarding-house, and 
convicted and sentenced to five days in the Tombs prison on November 28, 1883, by 
Judge Gildersleeve, in the Court of General Sessions. His light sentence was the 
result of the intercession of some good people, and on account of its being his first 
appearance in court. He was arrested again in Boston, Mass., on April 28, 1884, ^"^ 
company of Joseph W. Harris, alias Wm. J. Johnson, for picking pockets in the 
churches of that city. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to four years in Concord 
prison on May 16, 1884. His time will expire in November, 1887. 

Auburn's picture is a good one, taken in 1884. 



112 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA, 

47 
EMILE VOEGTLIN. 

HOTEL AND BOARDING-HOUSE THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Twenty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Single. Scenic artist by 
trade. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 10^ inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Brown 
hair, hazel eyes, dark complexion. Wears black mustache and side-whiskers. Has a 
very genteel appearance. 

RECORD. 

VoEGTLiN, who branched out lately as a boarding-house and hotel thief, is the son 
of very respectable people in New York City. That he is a professional there is no 
doubt. He is a clever man, and his picture is well worth having, as he is not very 
well known outside of New York. 

He was arrested in New York City on April 23, 1882, for stealing jewelry at No. 
7 Fifth Avenue, where he was boarding. On account of his family judgment was sus- 
pended, after he had pleaded guilty and promised to reform. 

He was arrested again in New York City on December 12, 1883, charged by a 
Mrs. Josephine G. Valentine, a guest of the Irving House, corner Twelfth Street and 
Broadway, with stealing from her room there a diamond-studded locket and other 
jewelry. The scoundrel almost implicated an innocent girl, whom he was keeping 
company with, by giving her some of the stolen jewelry. 

Voegtlin was convicted of grand larceny in Part I. of the Court of General Sessions,, 
and sentenced to five years in State prison on January 8, 1884. Immediately after his 
sentence he was taken to Part II. of the same court, and sentenced to one year on the 
old suspended sentence, making six years in all. His imprisonment will expire, if he 
earns his commutation, on March 7, 1888. 

Voegtlin's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1884. 



48 

EDW'D FAIRBROTHER, alias DR. EDW'D S.WEST, 

alias Doctor St. Clair. 
HOTEL AND BOARDING-HOUSE THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-five years old in 1886. Born in England. Physician. A small, nervous 
man. Speaks very rapidly, Has long, thin, white hair. Hollow cheeks ; high, sharp 
cheek bones. No upper teeth. Large, long nose. Has a fine education, and speaks 
five languages. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 113 

RECORD. 

Dr. West, the name he is best known by, was arrested in New York City on July 
7, 1873, for grand larceny from a boarding-house in 128th Street. The complaint was 
made by Charles E. Pierce. The Doctor was convicted, and sentenced to two years in 
State prison on July 14, 1873, by Judge Sutherland, in the Court of General Sessions, 
New York. West was arrested again in New York in January, 1880, charged with 
committing twenty-two robberies inside of seven months. He freely admitted his guilt, 
and confessed to all of them. The best piece of work he had done, he said, was the 
robbery of Major Morton's residence on Fifth Avenue, New York City, where he secured 
$6,000 worth of diamonds and jewelry, with which he got safely away and pawned 
for $450. When taken to Major Morton's residence, however, the people in the house 
failed to identify him, and went so far as to say that he was not the man who had 
called there. West told the officers how he robbed Morton's house and several 
others. At the time of his arrest he had $20 in his possession. Out of this he gave 
$13 to a poor man named Kane, from whom he had stolen a coat. A poor servant-girl 
also came to court. West -recognized her, and offered her the last of his money, $7 ; 
but she would only take five of it. West, in speaking of himself at that time, said, " I 
have not always been a criminal ; I have seen better days, far better days than many 
can boast of, and bright opportunities, too. I had no disposition for crime — in fact, no 
inclination that way. But time's whirligig turned me up a criminal ; and I fought hard 
against it, too. I came to this country from England in 1855. I had just then gradu- 
ated from Corpus Christi College, founded by Bishop Fox, of Winchester. I am an 
alumnus of Oxford. I took my degree of M. D., and came to this country, and became 
a practicing physician in New York City. I lived then in Clinton Place. In 1863 I 
was arrested for malpractice, and was sent to Sing Sing State prison for five years. 
While in the prison I associated with all kinds of people, and there I learned the art of 
robbery. After my time was up I returned to New York City, and tried to lead an 
honest life ; but I had learned too much, and was again arrested for larceny, and sent 
to prison. I got out, and went back again for another term, which ended in June, 
1879." West was arraigned in the Court of General Sessions in New York City on four 
indictments for grand larceny, and the District Attorney accepted a plea of guilty on 
one of them, and Judge Cowing sentenced him to five years in State prison on January 
29, 1880. His sentence expired, allowing him full commutation, on August 28, 1883. 

West's picture was taken since 1873. He looks much older now. 



49 
GEORGE W. GAMPHOR, alias JAMES F. ROGERS. 



HOTEL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Born in Philadelphia. Medium build. Clerk. 
Not married. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, about 148 pounds. Blonde hair, 
dark gray eyes, sandy complexion and mustache. 



114 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

Gamphor was arrested in New York City on February i, 1876, for the larceny of 
a gold watch and chain, valued at $100, from one E. W. Worth, of Bennington, Vt., at 
one of the hotels on Cortlandt Street. He was convicted, and sentenced to two years 
and six months in State prison in the Court of General Sessions, on December 20, 
1880, by Recorder Smyth. 

He is a clever hotel thief, and has traveled all over this country, robbing hotels 
and boarding-houses, and is regarded as a first-class operator. He is well known in a 
number of large cities. 

Camphor's picture was taken in 1876. 



50 

DAVID CUMMINGS, alias HOGAN, 

alias Little Dave. 
HOTEL THIEF AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Born in Chicago, 111. Slim build. Married. 
Height, 5 feet 61^ inches. Weight, 130 pounds. Black hair, blue eyes, light com- 
plexion. Has small cross and dots of India ink on right hand. Dark brown beard. 

RECORD. 

Dave Cummings, whose right name is David Cronin, was arrested at Oshkosh, 
Wis., under the name of J. H. Smith, for robbing a Chicago salesman of his watch, 
diamond pin, and $200 in money, at the Tremont Hotel in that town. Dave pleaded 
guilty and was sentenced to three years in State prison there on September 14, 1881. 
A complete history of this celebrated criminal would fill this book. I will, therefore, 
describe only a few of his many exploits. " Dave Cummings" started in life as a waiter 
in a Chicago hotel, afterwards filling a similar position on the boats of the Upper 
Mississippi. About this time a singular series of robberies occurred, and it was ascer- 
tained that every boat that young Cummings had worked on had been plundered. 
After a time he was betrayed by another boat-thief named Johnny O'Brien. Dave was 
arrested, and a large amount of stolen property was found in his possession. This was 
in 1865, at St. Louis, Mo., and was the first time he became known to the police. 

The first robbery of importance with which he was connected was in New Orleans 
La., in 1868, when, in the company of Billy Forrester (76), and Frank Dean, alias Daigo 
Frank, they robbed th.e safe of Schooler's jewelry store on Canal Street in that city. 
The safe stood in front of a glass door, where the watchman could see it in passing. 
Cummings rigged up a dummy safe and dragged the other one into the rear room 
opened it, and secured diamonds and jewelry valued at $100,000, none of which was 



49 



50 



51 




GEORGE W. GAMPHER, 
HOTEL THIEF. 



DAVE CUM MINGS, 

ALIAS HOGAN, 

HOTEL THIEF. 



WILLIAM CONNELLY, 

ALIAS OLD BILL, 

HOTEL THIEF. 



52 



53 



54 




BILLY PEASE, 

ALIAS STEWART, 

HOTEL AND BOARDING HOUSE SNEAK 



WM. MILLER, 
SNEAK AND HOTEL THIEF. 



ALBERT CROPSEY, 

ALIAS WILLIAMS, 

HOTEL THIEF. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 115 

•ever recovered. They next robbed the bank in the French district of New Orleans of 
money and bonds valued at $65,000, and with this sum they fled to Memphis, where 
they were joined by Jess Allen (deceased). In that city the police tried to arrest 
them, but they escaped. In a short time after this the party robbed Barney Spiers, 
a diamond broker and pawnbroker in St. Louis. Next to the store was a saloon which 
was frequented by the thieves. Tunneling through the wall, they entered and pulled 
the back out of the safe, securing about $12,000 worth of diamonds. Shortly after the 
great fire Cummings went to Chicago and operated very successfully as a hotel thief. 
In the fall of 1872, in company with Daigo Frank, he entered a room in the house of 
the notorious Jenny Jenks, in Chicago, and took from under her mattress diamonds and 
jewelry to the value of about $7,000, with which they fled to New York. In the winter 
of 1872 the gang was changed by Cummings, and consisted of Mose Vogel, a New 
Yorker; Ed. Johnson, a Chicagoean, and Daigo Frank. They rented rooms directly 
over the First National Bank of Jersey City, and ostensibly carried on. the business of 
stucco work. In the meantime they had taken up the floor, were removing the bricks 
over the vault, piling them up at the side of the room, where they were covered with a 
screen, and replaced the floor every night. They had worked through to about the 
last layer of brick, when an old woman who lived in the building became suspicious, and 
one evening notified the police. A squad of them surrounded the bank, and captured 
the men at their work. But the usual good luck of Cummings stood by him. It was 
his duty that night to keep an outside watch. Becoming careless, he had gone into a 
billiard room, and thus, without being able to alarm his companions, escaped himself 
and fled to New York. The prisoners, Mose Vogel, Ed. Johnson and Daigo Frank 
were sentenced to fifteen years each. 

Dave went back to the hotel business and continued at it until the spring of 1873, 
when, in connection with George Leslie (deceased) and Pete Emmerson, alias Banjo 
Pete, he robbed a bank in Macon, Ga., of about $50,000. They were all arrested in 
Washington, D. C, for this robbery, and a compromise effected by the return of the 
money. In the fall of 1873 Dave visited the fairs at Quincy, 111., and Kansas City, and 
found in the former place that rooms could be had over the vault of the First National 
Bank there, which was located similarly to that of the bank at Jersey City. He rented 
the rooms, giving at the time the name of a noted Chicago thief, in order to divert 
suspicion if anything should occur, and started at once for New York, where he 
organized another party, consisting of James Dunlap, formerly of Chicago; Robert S. 
Scott, also of Chicago ; Jack Burke, George Mason, and a man since reformed. They 
rented a house at Quincy, 111., and one of their wives acted as housekeeper, staying there 
during the day and working, as they did in Jersey City, at night. In Quincy they were 
successful, securing $89,000 in currency, $100,000 in government bonds, and $350,000 
in railroad and other securities, leaving one safe untouched, probably for lack of time. 
This is the first bank in which the "air-pump" was used with success. It forces or 
draws the powder into the crevices of the safe. The device was invented by a man who 
was at one time in the employ of Herring, the great safe manufacturer. In this case 
the owner got $10,000 for the use of it. 

The following is a circular issued by the bank immediately after the robbery : 



Ii6 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($40,000) REWARD ! 

The First National Bank of Quincy, Illinois, offer and will pay thirty thousand dollars for the 
recovery and return of the Eighty-Four Thousand Dollars ($84,000) which were stolen from its Bank at 
the time the same was burglariously entered and robbed on the morning of the 13th day of February, 1874;. 
and said Bank will also pay//-^? rata for the return of any part of said $84,000. 

Of this amount there was in new notes of this Bank $2,600, of the denomination of ones and twos; 
about $1,000 in mutilated notes of this Bank; one fr,ooo U. S. Treasury note; $1,800 in new fractional 
currency; $4,000 in notes of $50 and $100, and the balance in Legal Tender and National Bank Notes. 

There were also taken from the safe two U. S. 7-30 Bonds, viz.: No. 160,114, June series, $i,ooo- 
No. 181,116, June series, $1,000. 

And also the following municipal bonds, on deposit for safe keeping, viz.: One hundred and forty- 
nine Bonds of the Quincy, Missouri and Pacific Railroad Company, each for $1,000, dated July i, 1871,. 
and payable to bearer on the first day of July, 1901, in gold, with interest at 7 per cent., payable semi-annu- 
ally, on the first days of January and July; signed by Charles A. Savage, President, and Chas. H. Bull^ 
Treasurer, under the corporate seal of the Company, and with the name, Chas. H. Bull, Treasurer, engraved 
upon the interest coupons. As near as can be ascertained, said Bonds are numbered as follows: No. 1002 
to 1005 inclusive; No. 1092 to iioo inclusive; No. 1127 to 1130 inclusive; No. 1151 to 1200 inclusive; No. 
1251 to 1300 inclusive; Nos. 1009, loio, 1023, 1024, 1102, 1105, 1106, 1115, 1148, 1149, 1207, 1208, 1214,, 
1215, 1219, 1225, 1226, 1227, and fourteen others, the numbers of which are unknown. 

Also, 180 Bonds of the County of Adams, in the State of Illinois, issued to the Quincy, Alton- and St. 
Louis Railway Company, or bearer, dated January i, 1870, each for $1,000, payable twenty years from 
date, bearing interest at six per cent, per annum, with coupons attached representing the interest; signed 
by Baptist Hardy, Chairman, and C. H. Morton, Clerk, with the seal of the County Court of said County. 
Said Bonds are numbered as follows: No. 221 to 400 inclusive. 

Also, $100,000 of Bonds of the City of LaGrange, in the State of Missouri, consisting of eighty 
Bonds of $1,000 each, and forty Bonds of $500 each, dated Dec. 1871, or Jan. 1872, and signed by J. A. 
Hay, Mayor, and R. McChesney, Clerk, under the corporate seal of the City. Said $t,ooo Bonds are be- 
lieved to be numbered from No. 96 to 175, inclusive, and said $500 Bonds from No. 186 to 225 inclusive. 

The above is believed to be a substantially correct description of Bonds stolen. 

All persons are cautioned against purchasing or becoming interested in said Bonds, as the same can- 
not be enforced, and will be worthless in the hands of any purchaser. 

And all persons are earnestly requested, in case of any knowledge of the existence or whereabouts of 
any of said Bonds, to communicate with the officers of this Bank, and to aid in tracing and recovering the 
same. 

From the appearance of the inside of the safe, and the condition of some of the papers left by the 
thieves, it is believed that nearly all of the money and Bonds taken are more or less scorched and blackened 
by the gunpowder explosion. 

Said Bank will also pay twenty-five hundred dollars for the arrest and delivery at the County 
Jail, in Quincy, Illinois, of each or either of the persons engaged in committing said burglary and robbery, 
upon his conviction for the same. 

By order of the Board of Directors of said Bank. 

C. M. PoMROY, President, 
Quincy, III., March 10, 1874. U. S. Penfield, Cashier. 

Direct all communications to J. C. McGraw, Dep'y Sheriff, in care of the First National Bank, 
Quincy, Adams County, 111. 

The following is the description of the persons suspected of being concerned in the robbery as near as 
can be ascertained ; 

No. I. — J. R. BiGELOW. — Thirty to thirty-one years old; five feet ten inchea in height, trim, well 
built, well proportioned, walks erect but with downcast look. Dark hair, brown or hazel eyes and very red 
cheeks. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 1 17 

No. 2. — A. D. Harper. — Age thirty to thirty-five years; height six feet, sHm build, and rather long 
face with high forehead. Brown hair cut short; close cut brown or dark sandy Burnside whiskers; blue or 
gray eyes; dressed in dark clothes, with plug hat; wore heavy gold watch in vest pocket and large gold 
chain with long links. 

No. 3. — C. G. Green. — Age about thirty; height five feet eight to ten inches, rather heavy build, dark 
complexion, Roman nose, hair black and cut short; black mustache, and side whiskers not connected with 
mustache. Dressed dark, with plug hat. 

No. 4. — Name Unknown. — Thirty-five years old; height five feet seven to eight inches, slim build, 
coarse features, very nrominent Roman nose, very large mouth; cheeks a little sunken, upper teeth seemed 
remarkably short; black hair cut very short, and dark eyes. Wore plain gold ring on right little finger, and 
gold ring — flat, square on top — on left middle finger. Dressed in dark clothes, with plug hat. 

For a while Cummings led a riotous life, as usual. Wine, women, and faro soon 
made havoc with his portion of the Quincy plunder and his wits were again brought 
into play. He brought his organized talent to his aid, and started to Montreal, Canada, 
for the purpose of robbing Marshalla's Bank, but an overcharge of dynamite blew out 
the entire front of the building, and the robbers narrowly escaped with their lives. 
Again they fled, and their next field of operations was on the Falls City Bank of 
Louisville, Ky., which they operated upon as they did at Quincy, 111., with the difference 
that their base of operations was under the altar of a Masonic temple. They removed 
the carpet and the floor, replacing them at the close of each night's work. During the 
time they were operating several lodge meetings were held, when the burglars stopped 
work and went for a walk and refreshments. For their trouble there they obtained 
$400,000. As usual, "broke" again in a few months, Dave started, in the summer of 
1875, with a "kit" of tools, and in company with Billy Flynn and Jimmy Blake, was 
arrested for robbing rooms at the Capitol Hotel in Harrisburg, Pa. They were all 
sentenced to seven years each in the Eastern Penitentiary at Philadelphia. This was 
Cummings' first conviction. He was discharged from there on July 4, 1880. 

After a short rest he went to New York and fell in with old friends. He then took 
a tour of New York State, robbing safes in the country post-offices and at railroad 
stations ; but this did not suit him, and he went back to his old business, and in January, 
1 88 1, he was arrested at the Sinclair House, New York City, a porter having caught him 
coming out of the room of a son of United States Senator Pinchback's, with a full outfit 
of tools and some valuables of the guests. He was committed, obtained bail, and again 
went into hiding. His next appearance was at Philadelphia, where he formed a part- 
nership with Walter Sheridan, Joe McClusky, and other noted bank sneaks. Their 
first robbery was that of a diamond broker on Chestnut Street, near Twelfth, where 
Cummings and Sheridan engaged the attention of the clerk, and McCluskey secured 
about $6,000 worth of diamonds. In May, 1881, Sheridan, Dave, and Jack Duffy made 
a trip to Baltimore, where they ran across a traveling salesman of the jewelry house of 
Enos, Richardson & Co., of Maiden Lane, New York. They followed him to the 
Clarendon Hotel, where they watched till he went to dinner, entered his room and stole 
his entire stock, valued at $15,000. The chase becoming hot for Cummings, he finally 
returned the proceeds of the robbery, and received $2,500 for it. 

He then started for the Pacific slope with Old Jimmy Hope and Big Tom Bigelow, 
and after looking about, these enterprising burglars concluded to rob Sauthers & 



Il8 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Co.'s Bank, a Hebrew institution, where there was $600,000. They again put into 
operation their favorite tactics of securing a vacant room over the vault. They had 
tunneled through four layers of brick and several tiers of railroad iron, when the chief 
of detectives learned they were in the city. He took possession of several offices in the 
vicinity of the bank with his men, and about 10:30 p. m., on the night of June 27, 1881, he 
made a raid on them. He found Jimmy Hope at work. Cummings heard them coming 
and ran to the roof, crawled through the scuttle, and running over the tops of several build- 
ings, finally descended through a vacant store, and was once more at large. Bigelow, who 
was supposed to have been working inside with Hope, in some manner escaped also> 

Cummings left his trail at every hotel where he stopped, in Southern California, 
New Mexico, Denver, Col. ; and at a small town, twenty miles from Denver, he robbed 
a well known Chicago liquor dealer, named Al. Arundel, of $1,400 in money, a $500' 
watch, and a $400 diamond stud. He then paid a flying visit to Chicago, then to Saint 
Joseph, Mo., from there to St. Paul, then to Oshkosh, Wis., where, as above stated, he 
was sentenced on September 14, 1881, for three years. Since his release he is remaining 
very quiet, no doubt locating something rich. Look out for him, as he is liable to turn up 
when least expected. Cummings, while admired by his comrades for his skill and daring, 
has always been regarded by them as willing to sacrifice everybody to save himself. 

The fate of a number of persons mentioned, in connection with Cummings, is as 
follows : Scott died in Concord prison recently, and Dunlap is serving twenty years 
there for robbing the Northampton Bank, Mass. ; Jim Brady is serving runaway 
time and a sentence for felonious assault, in Auburn prison, in all about seven years ; 
Ike Marsh is working out a seventeen years' sentence in the Eastern Penitentiary at 
Philadelphia, for a bank robbery ; Jesse Allen is dead ; Sam Perris is a fugitive from 
justice, being accused of the murder of the cashier of the Dexter Savings Bank, in 
Maine ; George Leslie's body was found in the woods near Yonkers, N. Y., shot by his 
associates; Frank Dean, alias Daigo Frank, Ed Johnson, and Mose Vogel, have just 
finished serving a term of fifteen years in Trenton (N. J.) State prison ; Jimmy Hope 
is serving a sentence of seven years and six months in San Quintan prison in California ; 
Walter Sheridan is serving time in St. Louis for counterfeiting, and Pete Emmerson, 
alias Banjo Pete, was sentenced to ten years in Trenton State prison for attempt to rob 
a bank cashier in New Jersey. 

Cummings' picture is a fair one, taken in January, 1881. 



51 

WILLIAM CONNELLY, alias OLD BILL, 

alias Watson. 

HOTEL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Seventy years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Stout build. Married. Height, 
5 feet 9>^ inches. Weight, about 200 pounds. Hair gray, head bald, eyes 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 1 19 

gray, complexion light. Stout, full face. Has a double chin. Mustache gray, 
when worn. 

RECORD. 

Old Bill Connelly, or Weston, as he is sometimes called, is considered one of 
the cleverest hotel workers in America. Of late years he has worked generally in the 
small cities, on account of being so well known in the larger ones. He has served two 
terms in prison in New York State, one in Philadelphia, and several other places. 

He was arrested in the Astor House, New York City, on November 24, 1876, 
coming out of one of the rooms with a watch and chain (one that was left for him as 
a decoy). He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to four years in State prison on 
December 5, 1876, by Judge Gildersleeve, in the Court of General Sessions. His time 
expired on October 20, 1880. 

Connelly was arrested again in the Continental Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa., for robbing 
some French naval officers, who were about visiting the Yorktown celebration. He 
was tried, convicted, and sentenced to three years in the county prison on October 28, 
1 88 1. He is now at large, and is liable to make his appearance anywhere. 

Connelly's picture is an excellent one, although taken since 1876. 

52 
WILLIAM PEASE, alias BILLY PEASE, 

alias Stewart. 
HOTEL AND BOARDING-HOUSE THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in United States. Slim build. A painter and 
sailmaker by trade. Married. Dark complexion, dark blue eyes. Height, 5 feet 5 
inches. Weight, about 135 pounds. Dark brown hair, sharp face; has a scar near the 
crown of head. Has a cross and the letters "C. I." in India ink on right arm ; also dots 
on left arm and near left thumb. 

RECORD. 

Billy Pease is an old and very expert burglar and boarding-house thief, and is 
well known in the principal Eastern cities. He was arrested in New York City on 
June 8, 1876, for having burglars' tools in his possession, and sentenced to one year 
in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island. He was shortly after discharged, and robbed 
a boarding-house at No. 22 Irving Place, with one George Harrison. He was arrested 
again on September 16, 1877, by the same officer, in New York City, for an attempt at 
burglary at No. 1 2 Avenne A, for which he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to two 
years and six months in State prison on September 27, 1877, by Judge Gildersleeve, in 
the Court of General Sessions, New York City. Nothing further that is authentic 
appears upon the record to date. 

Pease's picture is a very good one, taken in 1877. 



I20 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

53 

WILLIAM MILLER, alias BILLY MILLER. 

HOTEL THIEF AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 65^ inches. Weight, 140 pounds Brown hair, brown eyes, 
sallow complexion. Generally wears a brown mustache. 

RECORD. 

Miller is a professional hotel and boarding-house sneak. He has served ten 
years in Sing Sing prison, independently of the sentence below, for robbing a boarding- 
house in Clinton Place, in New York City. He escaped from Sing Sing prison with 
Big Jim Brady the burglar, in 1873, by bribing a keeper with $1,000. The keeper 
was afterwards sent to prison himself for letting them escape. Miller was recaptured, 
and returned to Sing Sing, where he served his time out. This is a very clever man, 
and well worth knowing. 

He was arrested again in New York City on October 28, 1879, ^"^ suspicion of 
robbing the room of one M. Vanderkeep, a Spanish cotton merchant, who was stopping 
at the New York Hotel. The room was entered on October 26, 1879, ^^i*^ diamonds 
and jewelry valued at $2,500 were carried away. In this case he could not be identified. 
At the time of his arrest there was found upon his person a watch and some Canada 
money, which, it was ascertained, were stolen from a gentleman's room in the Cosmo- 
politan Hotel, corner of Chambers Street and West Broadway, New York City, a few 
nights previous to his arrest. 

For this last offense he was held for trial, and finally pleaded guilty, and was 
sentenced to ten years in State prison again on November 7, 1879. 

His sentence expired May 6, 1886. 

Miller's picture is an excellent one, taken in October, 1879. 



64 
ALBERT CROPSEY, alias WILLIAMS. 



HOTEL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-three years old in 1886. Medium build. Born in United States. Light 
complexion. Not married. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 135 pounds. Light 
hair and mustache when worn. Has letters "A. C." in India ink on right fore-arm ; also 
letters "A. C." and "A.," bracelet, anchor and dots on left hand. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 12 1 

RECORD. 

Cropsey is a very clever hotel and boarding-house thief, and is a man well 
worth knowing. 

He was arrested in New York City on May lo, 1878, for robbing a safe in 
Stanwix Hall, a hotel in Albany, N. Y., and delivered to the Albany police authorities. 
He was convicted there and sentenced to five years in the Albany, N. Y., Penitentiary 
on June 29, 1878, by Judge Van Alstyne. He was arrested again in New York City 
on November 4, 1883, and sent to Passaic, N. J., where he was charged with stealing 
$300 worth of silverware from a Mr. Lara Smith. In this case he was tried, but the 
jury failed to convict him and he was discharged. He is known in Philadelphia, New 
York, Boston, and several other cities in the United States. 

Cropsey's picture was taken in 1878. 



55 

STEPHEN RAYMOND, alias STEVE MARSHAL. 



FORGER AND GENERAL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Fifty-four years old in 1886. Born in England. Stout build. Married. Height, 
5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Has considerable English accent when talking. 
Gray mixed hair, blue eyes, dark complexion. Mole on the upper lip, right side. The 
right eye is glass. 

RECORD. 

Steve Raymond has a remarkable history as a forger and negotiator of forged 
bonds and securities. He had only left Sing Sing prison, where he had been confined 
for forgery, a few months, when he was arrested in London, England, on January 8, 
1874, charged with being implicated in the great Buffalo, Erie and New York Railroad 
bond forgeries. Over $400,000 of fraudulent bonds of these railroads were sold in New 
York City, and an equal amount in other places, before their genuineness was doubted. 
They were so cleverly executed that one of the railroad companies accepted $40,000 
of them without suspicion. These forgeries were the largest that were ever committed 
and successfully carried out in this or any other country. The capital to carry this 
scheme was said to have been furnished by Andrew L. Roberts and Valentine Gleason. 
Raymond's share was $40,000 cash, the larger part of which was stolen from him 
before he left for Europe in July, 1873. 

Raymond was taken before Justice Henry, a London magistrate, and remanded for 
extradition on January 16, 1874, and was shortly after brought back to America. 

While awaiting trial in the Tombs prison in New York, with his confederates, 
Walter Sheridan, alias Ralston (8), Charles Williamson, alias Perrine (202), Andy 
Roberts and Valentine Gleason, Raymond was taken to Elmira, N. Y., on habeas corpus 



122 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

proceedings, to be examined as a witness in some case, and while there he succeeded in 
making his escape from the Sheriff. He was arrested some time afterwards and 
committed to the Eastern Penitentiary on Cherry Hill, Philadelphia, for fifteen months, 
under the name of Frank Stewart, for a petty pocketbook swindle, which he carried on 
through the newspapers, and remained there without recognition until a short time 
before his release, when the fact became known to the New York authorities, who 
arrested him at the prison on January 27, 1877 (just two years after he had left the 
Tombs for Elmira), and brought him back to New York. 

Raymond was convicted of forgery in the third degree and sentenced to State 
prison for five years on March 20, 1877, ^.nd was discharged from there in October, 
1880. The list of the forgeries he was implicated in is as follows : New York Central 
Railroad bonds, $250,000 ; Buffalo, New York and Erie bonds, $200,000 ; Western 
Union Telegraph Company bonds, $200,000 ; New Jersey Central Railroad bonds, 
$150,000. A total of $800,000. 

Raymond was arrested again in New York City on July 3, 1882, charged with the 
larceny of a watch on a street car. He could not be identified as the party who stole 
it, but a bunch of keys was found upon his person and the magistrate construed these 
keys as being equivalent to burglars' tools and committed him in $1,500 bail for trial. 
This was reduced to $500 by Judge Haight, of the Supreme Court, and Raymond 
was shortly after discharged. 

Raymond was arrested again in New York City on September i, 1883, charged 
with altering the numbers and cashing coupons of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, 
which had been stolen from the Northampton Bank in Massachusetts, in 1876. He 
presented at the office of the Union Pacific Railroad Company on September i, 1883, 
twelve coupons and received a check for $480 in payment. When placed on the stand 
at the time of his trial, he said : " I met a man named George Clark, with whom I had 
been acquainted for years, in a liquor store on Eighth Avenue, about two years ago ; 
during the conversation he asked me if I would cash some coupons ; I was promised a 
percentage of $50 on $480, the amount of interest ; Clark said to me, ' You can't expect 
the coupons to be straight ; they are cut from stolen bonds.' I cashed several lots of 
coupons ; I never suspected that the numbers of the coupons had been altered or I 
would not have had anything to do with them ; I saw three detectives near the bank 
when I entered it, but they were looking in another direction. In my extensive 
experience with crooked bonds I never before heard of the numbers of the coupons 
being altered. If I had had plenty of money I would not have touched the coupons, 
but as my wife was sick I wanted money. When I came out of prison in 1880 I sold 
directories and afterwards gambled." 

Raymond was convicted of forgery (second offense) and sentenced to State prison 
for life on October 22, 1883. The law under which he was sentenced reads as follows : 
"If the subsequent crime is such that upon a first conviction the offender might be 
punished, in the discretion of the court, by imprisonment for life, he must be imprisoned 
for life." The Court of Appeals of New York State confirmed Raymond's sentence on 
April 29, 1884. 

Raymond's picture is a good one, taken in 1882. 



55 



56 



57 




STEPHEN RAYMOND, 

ALUS MARSHAL, 

SNEAK AND FORGER, 



GEORGE ADAMS, 

ALIAS KID AFLECK, 

CONFIDENCE MAN ana GENERAL THIEF 



DAN/EL S. WARD, 

ALIAS CAPT. WARD, 

WORTHLESS CHECKS. 



58 



59 



60 




HUGH L COURT EN AY. 

ALIAS LORD COURTENEY, 

SWINDLER. 



CHARLES McLaughlin, 

ALIAS McCLAIN, 

HOTEL THIEF. 



JOHN O'NEIL, 

ALIAS HUGHES. 

SWINDLER. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 123 

56 

GEORGE F. AFFLECK, alias ADAMS, 
alias Kid Affleck, alias Davis. 

THIEF AND CONFIDENCE MAN. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 7j^ inches. Weight, 
about 150 pounds. Born in United States. Married. Says he is a shoemaker. Dark 
hair, light blue eyes. Dark, sallow complexion. Wears light-colored mustache. Has. 
a scar on his left cheek. 

RECORD. 

Kid Affleck is a noted confidence man, having been arrested in several Eastern 
cities. His favorite hunting-ground was along the docks in New York City, where he 
was arrested several times, plying his vocation. He is also well known in Boston, Mass., 
and Providence, R. I., where he has worked around the railroad depots and steamboat 
landings with Plinn White (now dead), Dave Swain, and his old partner, Allen. He 
has served time in prison in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York, other than what is 
mentioned below. He cannot be called a first-class man, still he manages to obtain 
considerable money. His victims are usually old men. He works generally with Old 
Man Allen (alias Pop White). 

Affleck was arrested in New York City on March 7, 1883, with Old Man Allen, 
who gave the name of James Adams, charged with robbing an old man named Jesse 
Williams, at the Broad Street Railroad depot in Philadelphia, of a satchel containing 
$7,000, on March 5, 1883. Shortly after this robbery Affleck's wife, Carrie, deposited 
$1,000 in two New York Savings banks — $500 in each. This was part of the stolen 
money. He was delivered to the Philadelphia officers, and taken there, where, by an 
extraordinary turn of luck, he got off with a sentence of eight months in the Eastern 
Penitentiary on March 30, 1883. Williams, who was robbed by Affleck, recovered about 
$1,000 of his $7,000, and made his way to South Bend, Ind., his old home, where he 
died of grief on October 29, 1883, having lost all he had saved for the last twenty years. 

Affleck was arrested again in Central Park, New York City, on Sunday, March 
21, 1886, and gave the name of George E. Wilson. He was in company of James 
Morgan, alias Harris, another notorious confidence man. They were charged 
with swindling Christopher Lieh, of Brush Station, Weld County, Col., out of sixty 
dollars, by the confidence game. They both pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to 
two years and six months each in State prison on March 24, 1886, by Judge Gilder- 
sleeve, in the Court of General Sessions, New York City. 

This clever rogue has been traveling around the country for some time, swindling 
people, and the community is well rid of him. 

His picture is a good one, taken in 1883. 



124 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

57 

DANIEL S. WARD, alias CAPTAIN WARD, 

alias Morgan, alias Pape, alias Miller. 
SWINDLER BY WORTHLESS CHECKS. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-nine years old in 1886. Slim build. Born in Indiana. Planter. Height, 
6 feet 2 inches. Weight, 136 pounds. A very tall, slim man. Single. Dark brown 
hair, gray eyes, sallow complexion. Has several front teeth out, 

RECORD. 

Col. Daniel S. Ward was one of the six men arrested in New York City on 
November 28, 1864, for being concerned in a plot to burn the hotels. He was 
confined at police headquarters for four months by order of Gen. Dix. The plan was 
to burn Lovejoy's, French's, the Astor House, the Albemarle, the Fifth Avenue, and 
the La Farge House, now the Grand Central Hotel. Captain Kennedy, one of the 
conspirators, was hung in Fort Lafayette, and Captain Bedle, another, was hung on 
Bedloe's Island, in New York Harbor. Ward was sent to Fort Lafayette, and after 
being confined there several months was sent South and permitted to go. It was also 
suspected that he was concerned in the burning of Barnum's Museum, in July, 1865. 

In 1875 Ward went to Woodville, Miss., and represented himself as N. W. Page, 
of Baton Rouge, La., and obtained on a forged check $1,100. For this he was arrested, 
and after remaining in jail a year was discharged. He then came to New York as 
H. W. Keller, of Woodville, Miss., and secured from W. C. Browning & Co., of 
Broome Street, a suit of clothes and $100 in cash, change for a worthless check. In 
August of 1884, he was in New York City, representing himself as Wm. H. Morgan, of 
Woodville, Miss., and handed in a letter of introduction to Bates, Reed & Cooley, 
merchants on Broadway, who in turn gave him a letter to Naumberg, Krauss & Co., of 
Broadway, who sold him a long list of goods. They were asked to send one outfit down 
to the Cosmopolitan Hotel, where Ward, alias Morgan, was in waiting, and received 
them. In one day he secured goods from half a dozen firms. 

On October 9, 1884, Ward went to James M. Shaw, the china dealer, on Duane Street, 
New York City, and said he was the captain of the steamer Eclipse, running between 
New Orleans and New York. He ordered $462 worth of goods, displayed a draft for 
$3,000 on the Park Bank of New York, and when he drew up a check of $500, the 
difference, $38, was handed him and he departed. He visited CoUender's billiard sales- 
rooms on Broadway, New York, saying that he was about fitting up a large place in 
New Orleans, talked about prices, was invited out to dinner by the cashier, who intro- 
duced him to Pettus & Curtis, tailors, corner Seventeenth Street and Broadway. The 
last named was promptly swindled out of a suit of clothes and $150 in cash. At the 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 125 

Meriden Britannia Co.'s, on Fourteenth Street, New York, he ordered $965 worth of 
goods, drew a check for $150 more, and walked off with the difference. On October 
II, 1884, he went to Chickering & Sons and selected two pianos, took a fancy "by the 
way" to the manager, took him to lunch, and from the restaurateur, to whom he was 
introduced, borrowed $20 for change, as he had accidentally run short. F. F. Kramer, 
a piano cover maker on East Fourteenth Street, New York, was sent for, came, and 
sold a piano cover for $150, which Ward took with him in a coupe, together with $100 
cash, the change of a $250 worthless check. He drove down to Lord & Taylor's, on 
Broadway, displayed the receipted bills of Shaw, Kramer, and the Meriden Britannia 
Company, and selected $875 worth of linen for the steamer Eclipse. He drew a check 
for $1,000, and having received $125, told Lord & Taylor not to send the goods until 
his check was certified. The goods of course never went. As he was passing out of 
the store his eye caught a lot of silk underwear, and $100 worth of this was placed in 
his coupe, as he "thought his wife might want to look at it." Boston, Providence, 
Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and Philadelphia were all visited 
and victimized in the same manner, under the careless and guileless fashion of undue 
trusting common among business men. 

Ward was arrested in New York City in connection with these swindling transac- 
tions on July 20, 1885, and tried on two complaints, one made by the Meriden Britannia 
Company, and another by Pettus & Curtis. He was convicted and sentenced to three 
years in State prison, in the Court of General Sessions, on July 20, 1885. His sentence 
will expire on February 19, 1888. 

Ward was also known as A. C. Wood, and as Col. Sellers. His right name is 
Albert C. Ward, and he was born and brought up in Indianapolis, Ind., where his 
relations are highly respected. 

Ward's picture is a good one, taken in 1885. 



58 

HUGH L. COURTENAY, alias LORD COURTNEY, 

alias Lord Beresford, alias "Sir Harry Vane of 
Her Majesty's Lights." 

SWINDLER — A BOGUS LORD. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-four years old in 1886. Born in England. Claimed to be married when 
arrested, which is not a fact. Slim build. Height, 6 feet 2 inches. Weight, 175 
pounds. Dark hair, heavy eyes, bronzed complexion. Has a small, light-colored 
mustache. Tall, gentlemanly-looking man. Looks and assumes the air of an English- 
man. Has a poor education, and is a poor writer. A bogus lord, with " R. N." on his 



126 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

baggage. This party's right name is supposed to be CHnton, and he is the clever son 
of a former lodge-keeper of the Earl of Devon, in Devonshire, England. 

RECORD. 

Lord Courtenay, the bogus British nobleman, is well known in New York City 
since 1874, and, in fact, all over the United States and Canada. There are several 
people to-day in England, Utah Territory, Montreal (Canada), Richmond (Va.), Balti- 
more, Newport (R. I.), and, in fact, in all the principal cities in the United States, that 
would like to have the pleasure of meeting him again, and handing him over to the 
police authorities. 

He was arrested in New York City on December 3, 1880, and delivered over to 
the Salt Lake (Utah) police authorities, for forgery on the London Bank of Utah. He 
was tried there, and acquitted ; again arrested in Salt Lake, by the New York police 
authorities, and brought to New York, charged with forging an acceptance of a bill of 
exchange for the sum of seventy-two pounds sterling by Herbert S. Sanguinetti, of No. 
13 Pall Mall, London, England. He was delivered to the captain of the steamship 
Spain, of the National Line, that sailed from New York for England on May 14, 1881, 
and was delivered by him to the police authorities of Liverpool, England, and taken to 
London, where he was credited with a five-years sentence. The fact is, he was sentenced 
to three months at hard labor in Clerkenwell prison, London, England, on October 17, 
1881, under the name of Marcus Beresford, alias Walter Constable Maxwell. He was 
afterwards shipped to one of the West India Islands, but turned up again in Boston, 
Mass., the same fall. 

Charles Pelham Clinton, another of his aliases, is wanted in Montreal, Canada, for 
a little confidence game he played on a merchant there. , He represented himself as C. 
C. Bertie, adjuster for some estate in England. So well acquainted was he with English 
law, and so well did he describe the accession of the estate and the history of the family, 
that he completely deluded his victim, got into his confidence, and then cleared out. 
There was a rewai^d of $1,000 offered for him in Montreal. In 1876 he made his debut 
as a society swindler in Baltimore, Md., under the name of " Sir Hugh Leslie Courte- 
nay," of the " British Royal Navy." Here he managed, by letters from confederates, to 
establish his identity in the eyes of the public. He was at once received in the best 
society, and by his distinguished appearance and manners completely captivated the 
female portion of the community. He spent money on cheap trash which he gener- 
ously presented to his friends. A young Baltimore belle describes him as a most fasci- 
nating personage, and says that he was the first who ever " fired her soul with love." 
The elegant uniform of the British Royal Navy, which he always wore at the fashionable 
balls, delighted and infatuated the young ladies, who cut the buttons off for souvenirs. 
The lady alluded to above still has in her possession one of the gold (?) buttons, with 
the monogram of the Royal Navy, cut from Sir Hugh's uniform. He was wined and 
lionized, and ran on his credit there for months, wondering " what could be the matter 
with his stupid banker in England." His male friends grew suspicious, and made 
excuses for not being able to accommodate him with loans. Then he changed his 
tactics, and by different devices managed to extract from his female friends small 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 127 

amounts from their allowance for pocket-money. It is said that the daughter of a 
prominent citizen of Norfolk, Va., gave Courtenay $500. Notwithstanding these loans, 
his extravagant tastes involved him heavily in debt, and he was obliged to decamp, and 
did^ so just in time, as the evening before he took his leave he was recognized as a 
fugitive by one of his former victims. Before his departure from England he undoubt- 
edly studied up thoroughly the pedigrees of many English families of noble title for the 
sole purpose of swindling unsuspecting Americans or marrying some silly American 
heiress. 

His picture is a good one, although a copy. 



59 

CHARLES McLaughlin, alias McLain, 

alias Lambert, alias Seaman, alias Johnson, 

♦ HOTEL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty years old in 1886. Stands his age well. Born in Troy, N. Y. Is a saddler 
by trade. Well built. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches Weight, 160 pounds. Brown hair. 
Wears full, dark, sandy whiskers and mustache, turning gray. He has quite a 
respectable appearance, and is a good talker. 

RECORD. 

• McLaughlin is one of the cleverest hotel workers in the country, and is said to 
be the son of a planter in Louisiana. He was a book-keeper, but lost everything during 
our civil war and became a hotel thief. On April 3, 1875, he robbed a room in the 
Westminster Hotel in New York City of a watch and chain and some diamonds and 
money. As he was leaving the hotel with his booty, his victim came downstairs and 
reported his loss to the clerk, who followed McLaughlin and had him arrested, and 
found the property upon his person. McLaughlin was tried, convicted, and sentenced 
to three years in Sing Sing prison for this robbery. It is said that the day he was 
sentenced his father was shot and killed by negroes in Grant Parish, La. 

He was convicted and sent to prison in Quebec, Canada, for a hotel robbery in 
January, 1881. He was arrested again in New York City on June 10, 1884, for entering 
three rooms in the Rossmore Hotel. A full set of hotel-workers' tools was found on 
his person at the time of his arrest. He had robbed two rooms in this house some 
time before and secured $400 in money and two watches. In this case McLaughlin 
pleaded guilty to burglary, and was sentenced, under the name of Chas. J. Lambert, to 
two years in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, in the Court of General Sessions in 
New York City, on June 25, 1884, by Judge Gildersleeve. His sentence expired Feb- 
ruary 24, 1886. 

McLaughlin's picture is a fair one, taken in 1875. He looks much older now. 



128 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

60 

JOHN O'NEIL, alias HUGHES, 

alias Smith. 

CONFIDENCE MAN, SELLS PAWN TICKETS. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Slim build. Painter by trade. 
Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, about 140 pounds. Dark hair, turning gray; light 
eyes, dark complexion, cast in one eye. His hand is drawn up from a gunshot wound, 
and he is paralyzed on one side of his body, drawing one leg somewhat after him. 

RECORD. 

John O'Neil, alias Hughes, alias Jason Smith, has a method of working which 
is entirely his own. Whenever a robbery or burglary has been committed, the victim 
receives a poorly spelled and written note from O'Neil, stating that " although he is a 
thief, so help his God he had nothing to do with the burglary " of your residence, or 
whatever it may be — he has, however, pawn tickets representing the property stolen, 
which he will sell you. An interview is arranged, and during the conversation he 
remembers a few descriptions that you give of your property, and says that he has 
pawn tickets representing so-and-so. " Why did you not bring them with you ?" is the 
question naturally asked. "Oh, no; I did not know whether I could trust you or not." 
Being assured that he can, another meeting is arranged for the purpose of going arid 
redeeming the property, which is done in the following manner : a cab is hired, "as he 
is a thief, and it would not be safe for you to be seen walking with him," and both are 
driven to the pawnbroker's shop, which always has two entrances. Before the cab 
arrives at the place, he will say, " It will cost so much to redeem the goods," showing 
you the tickets and counting the amounts up, " give me the money, you remain in the 
cab at the door, and I will go in and redeem them, and bring them to you, when you 
can pay me for my tickets." He enters the pawnshop and passes out the other door, 
and you, after waiting some time in the cab, realize that you have been swindled, enter 
the place, but fail to find your man. 

O'Neil was arrested at Staten Island, N. Y., by the police and brought to New 
York City on April 4, 1879, under the name of John Hughes, charged with swindling 
one Zophar D. Mills out of $172, as above described. O'Neil represented that he had 
pawn tickets, for seven pieces of silk stolen from Mr. Mills on November 30, 1878. 
O'Neil, alias Hughes, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in State prison 
in this case on April 23, 1879, by Judge Cowing, in the Court of General Sessions, New 
York City. 

He was arrested again in New York City, under the name of John O'Neil, on 
September 12, 1885, for swindling several people in the same way. This time he also 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 129 

pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to one year in State prison on September 17, 1885, 
by Judge Cowing, in the same court. 

Several of O'Neil's victims refused to prosecute him on account of his infirmities, 
and the fact that he had served twelve years of the last fifteen of his life in prison. 

O'Neil's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1870. 



61 
THOMAS O'CONNOR, alias TOMMY CONNORS. 

BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Twenty-six years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. Teamster. Stout 

build. Height, 5 feet 75^ inches. Weight, 170 pounds. Dark hair, hazel eyes, dark 

complexion, freckled face. Has a star in India ink on right hand, and letters " T. O. C." 

in a circle on left arm. 

RECORD. 

"Tommy Connors," the name he is best known by, is a desperate west side. New 
York, burglar. He is well known in the Eastern States as the former partner of Clark 
Carpenter, alias Clarkey (deceased), and James McDonald, alias Milky McDonald, 
two other notorious west side burglars. He has served a term in Sing Sing prison and 
in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, New York. He first came into prominent 
notice when arrested in New York City on December 2, 1884, in company of John 
McKeon, alias Kid McKeon, alias Whitey, and William Pettibone, for robbing a safe 
in the Bay State shoe-shop, in the Kings County Penitentiary of New York. Pettibone 
was at the time in the employ of the company. McKeon had served a term in the peni- 
tentiary, and worked in the shop. These two, in company of Connors, tore the safe 
open, and secured $3,104 in money in November, 1884. Pettibone was arrested and 
used by the people as a witness to convict McKeon, who was sentenced to six years 
and six months in State prison. Connors escaped conviction in this case. 

He was arrested again in New York City on January 14, 1886, in company of 
Clark Carpenter, alias Clarkey, and James McDonald, alias Milky McDonald, and 
delivered to the police authorities of Boston, and taken there to answer for a series of 
burglaries. One of the burglaries occurred on October i, 1885, at No. 470 Harrison 
Avenue ; another on Thanksgiving morning, 1885, at No. 428 Tremont Street ; another 
on December 26, 1885, at No. 390 West Broadway, South Boston, and several others 
in the city of Boston and vicinity. 

Connors, McDonald, and Clark were tried in Boston on February 11, 12, and 13, 
1886, and the jury disagreed; they were remanded to Charles Street jail to await 
another trial. This case was finally brought to a close on April 15, 1886, when Thomas 
O'Connor pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in State prison. Milky 
McDonald was discharged on April 15, 1886. Clarkey was also discharged on the same 
day, but, being very sick, died in Charles Street jail on the following day, April 16, 1886. 

O'Connor's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1886. 



I30 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

62 

JOHN MAHANEY, alias MAHONEY, 

alias Jack Shepperd, alias John H. Matthews. 

BURGLAR, SNEAK, WAGON THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-three years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Medium build. 
Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 140 pounds. Dark curly hair, dark eyes, dark 
complexion. A sharp, quick-moving fellow. Makes a specialty of driving away trucks 
loaded with merchandise. 

RECORD. 

"Jack Shepperd," the name he is best known by, is an old offender. This sobriquet 
he deservedly bears, for few thieves in America have such a record as a successful thief 
and jail breaker. His notoriety dates back fully twenty years. First he was a petty 
thief, whose exploits were only fitful and trifling, but he improved his opportunities, so 
to speak, and quickly ripened into a full-fledged burglar. While plying the "jimmy" 
he one night fell into the hands of the New York police, and was taken to police head- 
quarters. He was inside the building, in the very heart of the thief-takers' hive, but 
Jack was not a bit appalled by official terrors, and he opened his custodians' eyes, on 
April 9, 1870, when they saw him break away, dash through the door, clear the stoop 
at a jump, and go around the corner like a streak. There was a hue and cry and much 
hunting done, but Jack had escaped. He next turned up in the West, and played 
the mischief with lock-ups and vigilance committees. He was in a tight strait many a 
time, but his eye was always open to chances, and he somehow managed to get out of 
trouble. He has not indulged much in burglary of late years, but has a process of 
operating which he himself might be said to have patented, to wit, driving away trucks 
and their valuable contents. 

Mahaney was arrested in Yonkers, N. Y., in 1866, by a Boston officer, and taken 
to Boston, where he was wanted for the larceny of a wagon loaded with broadcloth, etc., 
valued at $5,000. He was convicted for this offense on March 12, 1866, and sentenced 
to five years in State prison, this time under the name of John Wood. He was 
discharged from prison there on January 19, 1871. 

He was arrested again in New York City on May 5, 1875, charged by Henry 
Dobson (colored), a driver for Overton & Co., No. 34^ Pine Street, with driving away 
a truck loaded with goods valued at $3,000. He was tried for this on June 30, 1875, in 
New York City, and the jury failed to agree. He was tried again on August 9, 1875, 
with the same result. He was then turned over to the police authorities of Philadelphia, 
Pa., and taken there by requisition on August 14, 1875, charged with burglary in 



61 



62 



63 




THOMAS 0. CONNOR, 

ALIAS TOMMY CONNOF?, 

SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



JOHI]/ MAHANEY, 

ALIAS JACK SHEPPARD, 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



AUGUST PALMER. 
BURGLAR. 



64 



65 



66 




MICHAEL KERRIGAN, 

ALIAS JOHNNY DOBBS, 

BURGLAR. 



JOSEPH WHALEN. 

ALIAS JOE WILSON, 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



THOMAS KELLY, 

ALIAS BLINK KELLY, 

BURGLAR. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 131 

entering the store of Matther, Reese & Son, No. 325 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 
He was also indicted for grand larceny on April 22, 1875, i"^ Philadelphia, on complaint 
of Frank Stewart, of Bank Street, that city. He was convicted and sentenced to three 
years in the Eastern Penitentiary in one of the above cases, at Philadelphia, on Sep- 
tember 15, 1875, by Judge Briggs. 

Jack was arrested again in New York City on December 26, 1878, under the name 
of John H. Matthews, for the larceny of a truck from James Lynch, of No. 35 City 
Hall Place, New York, on July 9, 1878. On this date Jack engaged Lynch to carry off 
three bales of wool from the corner of Reade Street and West Broadway. A number 
of bales of wool had been left outside the establishment there, and Jack, on the truck's 
arrival, superintended the work of removing them with quite an assumption of owner- 
ship ; then he took a seat on the truck beside Lynch, who drove off. He induced 
Lynch to leave the truck for a minute and go on a message to the top floor of a house 
they were passing ; he was only a short time out of sight when Jack caught up the 
reins, lashed the horses into a quick run, and was soon out of sight with truck and wool. 
The wool was unloaded and the truck turned adrift. Jack then hailed another truckman 
who was returning to New Jersey, the wool was taken to New Jersey, where it was 
afterwards found. Jack was finally discharged on December 28, 1878, as the authorities 
could not get the Jersey truckman to come to New York and identify him. 

Mahaney was arrested again in Boston, Mass., in April, 1879, for driving away a 
truck load of goods. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced for this offense to five 
years in State prison, on April 25, 1879. This sentence expired on August 24, 1883. 
He was arrested again in Philadelphia, Pa., on July 19, 1884, for the larceny of a truck 
and three bales of Irish linen from G. B. Haines & Co., of Market Street. For this he 
was sentenced to three years in the Eastern Penitentiary on August 11, 1884. This 
time he gave the name of James Robinson. His time expires April 11, 1887. 

Shepperd has also served time in Joliet prison, Illinois, from 1871 to 1875. 

His picture, although taken some time ago, is a fair one. 



63 

AUGUST PALMER. 

BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Twenty-nine years old in 1886. Stout build. German, born in United States. 
Married. Ciga.r-maker. Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Light hair, 
gray eyes, round full face, fair complexion. 



132 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

August Palmer Is a brother of Herman Palmer (189), both desperate New York 
burglars. They, in connection with Robert Clifford, Peter Wilson (deceased), and 
John Anderson, alias Little Andy, all expert burglars, succeeded in doing considerable 
work in and around New York before their capture. The Palmer brothers are expert 
safe burglars. 

August Palmer and Peter Wilson (who was shot and killed at Chester, Pa., while 
committing a burglary on May 2, 1884) were arrested in New York City on June 8, 
1880, for an attempt to rob the safe at the pawnbroker establishment of Patrick Ganley, 
in Division Street, in which there was at the time $15,000 worth of jewelry, etc. Wilson 
was bailed out, and escaped conviction for lack of evidence. Palmer, at the time of his 
arrest, lived with his wife, Mary Steele, in Seventy-sixth Street, near Third Avenue, 
New York. The detectives searched his rooms, and concealed behind a mirror they 
found three pawn-tickets, which represented an amethyst ring, a gold watch and chain, 
and a pair of opera glasses, which, when redeemed, were at once identified as part of 
the property stolen from Meyer's pawn-shop, No. 528 Second Avenue, which was 
burglarized on the night of April 30, 1880. The safe was torn open, and its contents of 
jewelry, etc., valued at $6,000, carried away by August Palmer and associates. August 
was tried In the Court of General Sessions for the Meyer burglary, convicted, and 
sentenced to five years in State prison on June 28, 1880. 

At the time that August's home was searched and the pawn-tickets found, there 
was also found two pieces of silk dress goods, that were stolen from Mannassa L. 
Goldman's dry-goods store on Canal Street, New York. The store was entered by 
burglars on Christmas-day, 1879. August's wife claimed the silk, and she was sent to- 
the penitentiary for having stolen goods In her possession. 

Palmer was arrested again in New York City for assaulting a party who gave 
evidence against his brother Herman, and sentenced to three years for assault In the 
second degree, on September 19, 1884. His sentence will expire, if well behaved, on 
January 14, 1887. 

Palmer's picture is a good one, taken in 1880. 



64 
MICHAEL KERRIGAN, alias JOHNNY DOBBS. 



BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-one years old In 1886. Born in England. Married. Machinist. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 53^ inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Gray hair, blue eyes, dark 
complexion, smooth round face, large mouth. Has some English accent. Stands his 
age well. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. I33 

RECORD. 

Kerrigan, or Johnny Dobbs, was born and brought up in the slums of the Fourth 
Ward of New York City. He started out as a pickpocket, and was afterwards con- 
nected with Patsey Conroy (deceased), Larry Griffin, Denny Brady, Pugsey Hurley, 
and other notorious river thieves. Later on he became one of the most expert 
bank burglars in America. He is well known in almost every large city in America, 
and is considered a first-class workman. His associates were Charles Adams, alias 
Langdon W. Moore (22) ; George Mason, alias Gordon (24) ; Big Frank McCoy (89), 
Old Bill Meagher, Abe Coakley, Fairy McGuire (78), Sam Perris, alias Worcester 
Sam (199); Johnny Hope (19), Jimmy Hope (20), and, in fact, all the best men in 
the profession. He has been engaged in almost all the important bank robberies that 
have occurred in this country during the past twenty-five years. Dobbs, Worcester 
Sam, and old man Hope, were implicated in the robbery of the Dexter Bank of Maine, 
and the murder of the cashier. Worcester Sam, it is claimed, threw Cashier Barron 
into the bank vault and shut the door on him, because he refused to give them the 
combination of the safe in the vault, and next morning he was found dead. Sam is 
wanted now for this murder. 

Dobbs, alias Rice, escaped from State prison at Wethersfield, Conn., in company 
of another convict, on May 3, 1875. He was serving a sentence of four years for a 
burglary committed in CoUinsville, Conn. When in jail at Hartford, Conn., before his 
transfer to Wethersfield, he made an attempt to escape, but was detected when he had 
almost dug himself out. 

Dobbs was arrested again in Philadelphia, Pa., on May 7, 1879, while attempting 
to sell some of the bonds stolen from the Manhattan Savings Institution in New York 
on October 27, 1878. He was brought to New York City, and confined in the Tombs 
prison until February 6, 1880, when he was delivered to the authorities of Connecticut, 
and taken back to Wethersfield prison, to serve out his unexpired time. 

The following is an account of the last arrest of Dobbs and his gang in Lawrence, 
Mass., as published in the police news of Boston at the time. With a few corrections, 
it is given in full. 

The value of strict police surveillance of strangers was never better illustrated in this country than at 
Lawrence, Mass., on Monday night, March 3, 1884. Officer Carey of the day patrol had reported to the 
city marshal two days before the presence at the Franklin House of four persons, whom the officer thought 
were worth watching. A description of the men was placed on the blotter at police headquarters for the 
information of all members of the force. When these men alighted in Lawrence at 4 p. m., March 3, and 
carried their gripsacks to a different hotel from that they had patronized on their visit two days before, the 
eye of the " countryman copper " was wide open and kept them within view. They registered at the hotel, 
and, later, " connected " with two other members of the gang who had hired teams at different stables in 
Lowell, Mass., and driven over the road ten miles. Four of the gang took supper at Arthur Dodge's restau- 
rant and left their gripsacks there and took a stroll around the city. About 7:30 p. m. one of them bought 
a pair of rubbers at a shoe store, and then the gang sought out a billiard saloon to put in the time till the 
night was ripe for business. City Marshal James T. O'Sullivan, Assistant Marshal John Sheehan, Police 
Inspector Hiram R. Neal, Night Watch Captain James T. Brady and officers O'Connor, Mahoney and John 
J. Sullivan, in citizens' clothes, watched the billiard saloon, and had but a brief time to wait, when three of 
the desperados were heard coming down the stairs. They were on the street conversing in a low tone of 
voice, when Inspector Neal jumped in upon them and grabbed George Day, alias Moore, alias McCarty (87), 



134 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

by the neck, and speedily pinioned him. The other two ducked their heads and eluded his grasp, one 
running towards Hampshire Street, pursued by Captain Brady, and the other toward Franklin, both firing as 
they ran. The captain, as his man who was William Thompson, alias Dennis Carroll, alias Big Slim (147), 
turned down towards the canal, ordered him to stop, and when he failed to comply, fired one shot. 
Thompson continued on the run, firing three shots at the captain as he ran, and now the shooting began in 
earnest. 

The noise of the shots, none of which took effect, attracted officers O'Connor and J. J. Sullivan from 
Amesbury Street, and they, too, joined in the pursuit. Thompson threw his revolver away, and ran into the 
alley between the Atlantic blocks, where again Capt. Brady levelled at him and fired, and Thompson fell, 
crying: "I'm hit! I'm hit!" The captain, with the other officers came upon him, and when told to throw 
up his hands, he did so, and was taken to the station, where it was found that he was uninjured. 

The marshal paid his attention to the other rascal, who fled through the alley, firing after him as he 
went, and the burglar returning the fire, shooting over his shoulder. He managed to escape, however. 
This man was John Love (68). 

The report of revolvers awakened the two burglars who remained in the billiard room, and they made 
a bolt for the street. They broke from the billiard room, but did not reach the street before they were pin- 
ioned by the marshal, officers Carey and Dennis Sullivan, and Matthew McDonald. These men were James 
Rodgers and Frederick P. Gray (73). 

Rodgers was the leader of the gang. He has been identified as Johnny Dobbs. One detective called 
him Johnny Irving, which, of course, was a mistake. 

In the gripsacks were found a complete set of tools for safe-blowing — bellows, steel bits, dark lan- 
terns, fuse, cartridge caps, sectional jimmies, tubes through which to blow explosives, and other implements 
of the craft. All had self-cocking revolvers of 32 calibre, and a quantity of cartridges to match, and among 
the party there was over $500, and each had a gold watch. In Dobbs' sack was found a box of Reading, 
Pa., powder, and a box of troches, labelled Edward S. Kelley, Boylston, corner Berkeley Street, Boston. 

A formidable set of burglars' tools were those which the gang had, some of them, such as the 
pusher, for opening combination locks,- extremely rare and expensive. The jimmies included a sectional 
one, five feet long, in three joints, and a smaller one sixteen inches long. There was a bellows worked by 
the feet, a lot of half-inch rubber hose and seven tin tubes for powder to be forced through in blowing open 
safes. This powder, contained in two flasks and a bottle, was very fine and well adapted to the work. 
Besides this explosive were several pounds of nitro-glycerine and atlas powder, in cartridges, so arranged 
as to be exploded by electricity if desired. 

There were three coils of waterproof fuse, a fur muff, intended to deaden sound, and a gossamer to 
hide rays of light, two pocket dark lanterns, a thin spatula to work window fastenings, an adjustable wrench, 
a bit-stock, fifty-eight drills of silver-steel, and thirty-four steel wedges, ranging from three-quarters of an 
inch to four inches in length. For coercion and defense there were four new pattern revolvers and two 
pair of Bean's improved handcuffs. A map of New England and one of Essex county, two bottles of 
whiskey, with the paper labels scratched off, and a machine for cutting out door locks, made up the inter- 
esting collection. 

At the examination in the Lawrence police court, March 6, 1884, each member of the gang was held 
in $15,000 for having burglars' tools in their possession, and Thompson was held in $10,000 additional for 
shooting at the officer. 

Dobbs and Thompson pleaded guilty to having burglars' tools in their possession, 
and were sentenced to ten years each in Concord prison on June 9, 1884. 

Day, alias McCarty, and Gray were tried some time after, and convicted. They 
carried their case up to the Supreme Court, which confirmed the- verdict of the lower 
court, and they were finally sentenced to ten years each on February 11, 1885. 

See records of Nos. 68, 80, 86, 88, 90, and 199. 

Dobbs' picture is an excellent one, taken in 1884. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

65 
JOSEPH WHALEN, alias JOE WILSON. 

BURGLAR AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-five years old in 1886. Born in United States. Medium build. Married. 
Height, 5 feet 65^ inches. Weight, 143 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes, sallow com- 
plexion. Wears black mustache. Has a scar on right temple, another on corner of 

left eye. 

RECORD. 

Joe Whalen, alias Wilson, is a clever shoplifter, and is well known in all the 
principal Eastern and Western cities, having formerly lived in Chicago. He was 
arrested in New York City on November 21, 1883, for shoplifting. 

He was arrested again in New York City on August 25, 1885, in company of 
George Elwood, alias Gentleman George (114), a desperate Colorado burglar, with a 
complete set of burglars' tools in their possession. When the detectives searched their 
rooms in Forsyth Street, New York, they found considerable jewelry, etc. Among it 
was a Masonic ring engraved " Edson W. Baumgarten, June 25, 1884." This ring was 
traced to Toledo, O. In answer to inquiries about the same. Chief of Police Pittman 
of that city sent the following telegram : " Hold Elwood and Wilson ; charge, grand 
larceny, burglary, and shooting an officer." The circumstances were as follows : On 
August 13, 1885, masked burglars broke into Mr. Baumgarten's house in Toledo, O., 
and being discovered in the act of plundering the place fired several shots at the 
servants and escaped. An alarm was raised and the police started in pursuit. Coming 
up on Elwood, the officer demanded to know what was in a bag he was carrying. He 
said, " Nothing of much value — take it and see." The officer took the bag to a lamp 
near by, and when in the act of examining it, Elwood shot him in the back and 
escaped. 

Whalen and Elwood were taken to Toledo on August 29, 1885, to answer for this 
and a series of other masked burglaries in that vicinity, in almost all of which there 
was violence used. 

They were both tried there on December 12, 1885. Elwood was found guilty, 
and sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary at Toledo on December 19, 1885. 
Wilson was remanded for a new trial, as the jury failed to convict him. 

Elwood hails from Denver, Col., and is a desperate man. Whalen was formerly 
from Chicago, but is well known in New York and other Eastern cities. These two 
men committed several masked burglaries, generally at the point of the pistol, in Cleve- 
land, Detroit, St. Paul, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. 

Whalen, or Wilson, was tried again in Toledo, and found guilty of grand larceny 
on May 5, 1886, and sentenced to five years in State prison at Columbus, O., on May 
15, 1886, by Judge Pike, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lucas County, Ohio. 
See record of No. 114. 

Whalen's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1883. 



f36 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

66 
THOMAS KELLY, alias BLINK. 

BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Born in New York. Waiter. Single. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 134 pounds. Brown hair, brown eyes, 
dark complexion. Right eye out. 

RECORD. 

Kelly is a young New York burglar, and is credited with being able to handle a 
safe with some of the older ones. He was born and brought up in the Seventh Ward 
of New York City, and is a member of Patsey Carroll's gang. He was sentenced to 
two years in State prison on April 13, 1879, for grand larceny in New York City ; again, 
on December 23, 1880, for two years and six months for grand larceny under the name 
of Thos. Jourdan, just ten days after his release on the first sentence. 

He was arrested again in New York City on August 21, 1883, in company of 
Patsey Carroll, John Talbot, alias the Hatter, Clarkey Carpenter (now dead), and Wm. 
Landendorf, " Dutch Harmon's " brother, at Martin Reeve's saloon, No. 38 Forsyth 
Street, New York City, a resort for thieves, charged with burglarizing the premises of 
Geo. Tarler & Co., manufacturing jewelers, at No. 7 Burling Slip. The premises were 
entered on the night of August 20, 1883, and jewelry, plated ware, etc., carried away 
valued at $1,379. Patsey Carroll and John Talbot pleaded guilty to burglary in the 
third degree in this case and were sentenced to four years in State prison on October 
22, 1883, in the Court of General Sessions, New York City. Kelly was discharged. 

Kelly's picture is a good one, taken in 1883. 



67 

JOSEPH REAL, alias JOE STEIN, 

alias HoGGiE Real. 

HOUSE SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-six years old in 1886. Born in New York City. Bricklayer by trade. 
Single. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 143 pounds. Black hair, 
hazel eyes, dark complexion. Left-handed. 

RECORD. 

HoGGiE Real is a very smart and nervy house-thief. He generally works with 
Joe Otterburg (69), both of whom are well known in New York and Philadelphia. 



67 



jS*«". 





Si' 



^'^/^'s.i- 



m'^ 



Pi- 



es 



¥**• 




u'^ ^l 





JOSEPH STEIN, 

ALIAS PIGGIE REAL, 

BURGLAR AND HOUSE SNEAK. 



JOHN LOVE, 

ALIAS LOWREY, 

BURGLAR. 



JOSEPH OTTERBERG, 

ALIAS STEARN, 

BURGLAR AND HOUSE SNEAK. 




71 





EDWARD LYONS, 

ALIAS NED LYONS, 

BURGLAR, SNEAK, AND PICKPOCKET. 



DANIEL HUNT, 

ALIAS CARTER, 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



WILLIAM MORGAN, 

ALIAS BILLY MORGAN, 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. T37 

Real was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to four years in Sing Sing 
prison by Judge Gildersleeve, on April 24, 1883, on conviction of burglary in the third 
degree, but escaped from there on June 22, 1883. He was returned to Sing Sing 
prison, under the name of John Williams, on another charge from New York City, on 
January 22, 1884, for four years, which, together with his runaway time, makes his 
sentence nearly eight years. Watch this man when you arrest him, as he carries a 
pistol in his outside coat-pocket, left hand side, and will use it. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in 1883. 



68 
JOHN LOVE, alias JAMES D. WELLS. 

SNEAK AND BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in United States. Medium build. Plane- 
maker by trade. Married. Height, 5 feet 8j^ inches. Weight, 140 pounds. Sandy- 
brown hair, gray eyes, florid complexion. Generally wears reddish-brown mustache. 
Has figures "33" in India ink on left leg, also letters "J. L." on each arm. 

RECORD. 

Love, alias James D. Wells, is a clever store and bank burglar. He has had 
considerable luck in escaping punishment considering his long career of crime. He is 
a desperate man and will shoot on the first opportunity, and is well known in most of 
the Eastern States as a leader of a desperate gang of burglars. 

He was implicated with Langdon W. Moore, alias Charley Adams (22), and 
George Mason, alias Gordon (24), for the robbery of the Warren Savings Bank and 
the Post-office in Charlestown, Mass., on December 4, 1879. Mason, on whose 
testimony Adams was convicted, refused to testify in any manner against Love, and he 
was not indicted. Mason was afterwards sentenced to three years in the House of 
Correction, and Moore, or Adams, received sixteen years. Love was traveling around 
the country with Johnny Dobbs and his gang, and was the fifth man that escaped from 
an officer at Lawrence, Mass., on March 3, 1884, when the rest of them were arrested. 
He and others were concerned in the robbery of the post-office in Gloucester, 
Mass., in March, 1884, also the post-office in Concord, N. H., and several other 
robberies in New England. 

Love was formerly the partner of "Jack" Welsh, alias "John the Mick," who 
killed " Jack " Irving, and who in turn was killed by Wm. O'Brien, alias " Billy Porter" 
(74), Irving's partner, in a saloon on Sixth Avenue, New York City, on October 20, 
1883. John Love, alias "James D. Wells;" Charles Lowery, alias " William Harris," 
alias "Hill," of Canada; George Havill, alias "Harry Thorn," alias " Joseph Cook 
(15), of Chicago, 111. ; Frank McCrann, alias "Wm. McPhearson," alias "Big Frank," 
and Mike Blake, alias "Mike Kerwin," alias "Barney Oats," alias "Little Mickey," of 



130 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Pittsburg, Pa., were arrested near Elmira, N. Y., on February 14, 1885, for the robbery 
of the Osceola, Pa., Bank on the night of February 13, 1885. 

The bank vault was built of solid masonry two feet thick, but the concussion of 
the dynamite cartridge used was so great that the neighbors heard the explosion and 
notified the proprietors of the bank, who in turn notified a constable. The latter 
gathered a posse and pursued the burglars, who had escaped in a sleigh. They drove 
at such a furious rate that their team soon gave out. At that moment, a farmer came 
from his stable with a fresh horse and sleigh, which the robbers appropriated without 
ceremony and continued their flight. When within four miles of Elmira, N. Y., the 
gang was cornered, having been traced by their tracks in the snow. Lowery, a most 
desperate fellow, fired two shots at Constable Blanchard, one of them slightly wounding 
him in the arm. The marshal, joined by others, gave chase to the burglars across 
Mount Zoar, and a running fire was kept up. The pursuers were joined by other 
officers from Elmira, and when near that city two of the desperadoes were captured. 
One of them, Mike Blake, alias Kerwin, was shot through the wrist ; John Love, alias 
Wells, Frank McCrann, alias McPhearson, and George Havill, alias Harry Thorn, alias 
Cook, the other members of the gang, were chased until evening, when they were 
captured and placed in jail at Elmira, N. Y. The robbery was small, amounting to 
about $1,500, of which $500 was in silver and was nearly all dropped by the burglars in 
their flight. 

Charles Lowery, alias Wm. Harris, alias Hill, is without doubt one of the most 
desperate criminals in America. After his arrest, he was also charged with the murder 
of the town marshal of Shelby, Ohio ; and a $6,000 burglary at Gait, Ont. ; also a 
$10,000 jewelry robbery in Montreal, Canada. While Lowery and another burglar 
named Andrews were in a bank cashier's house at Belleville, Ont., they were surprised 
and captured. Lowery, a short time before that, had killed a hackman. In this case 
he escaped his just deserts through numerous appeals and the diplomacy of his wife, 
who lived in Toronto, Canada. He was convicted in the Osceola Bank case, and sen- 
tenced to ten years in State prison on April 9, 1885. 

Love was sentenced to nine years and eleven months, Havill to nine years and 
nine months, Frank McCrann to nine years and seven months, and Mike Blake to nine 
years and six months, in the same case and on the same day (April 9, 1885). 

Love's picture resembles him very much, taken in July, 1882. 



69 

JOSEPH OTTERBURG, alias JOE STEARN, 

alias Oatsey. 
HOUSE SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Born in New York City. Single. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 5^ inches. Weight, 125 pounds. Brown hair, blue 
eyes, light complexion. Generally wears a light-brown mustache. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 1 39 

RECORD. 

Joe Otterburg is a very clever house sneak, that being his principal business. He 
will stand watching when you go to arrest him, as he generally uses a pistol. He is an 
associate of Hoggie Real (67), and is well known in several Eastern States. He was 
arrested in New York City and sentenced to four years in State prison on October 6, 
1870, under the name of James Oats, by Recorder Hackett, for a sneak robbery. 

Otterburg was convicted for having burglars' tools in his possession at White 
Plains, N. Y., on September 19, 1875, and was discharged from the penitentiary at 
Albany on July 15, 1877, after serving two years there, under the name of Joseph 
Osborne. 

He was arraigned for trial in the Kings County Court of Brooklyn, N. Y., on May 
II, 1878, for robbing the residence of Mrs. Adolphus Nathan, of No. 117 Adelphi 
Street, that city, on January 25, 1875, of $450 worth of property. In this case he was 
tried and acquitted on May 31, 1878. 

Christopher Spencer, who was in this robbery with Otterburg, was afterwards 
sentenced to the Albany (N. Y.) Penitentiary for five years for breaking jail and 
assaulting his keeper at White Plains jail, Westchester County, N. Y. 

Otterburg was arrested again in New York City, and sentenced to four years in 
State prison by Judge Gildersleeve, on April 24, 1883, fo"" robbing a house in Harlem 
in company of Joseph Real (67). His time expired on April 23, 1886. 

His picture is a good one, notwithstanding his eyes are closed, taken in April, 1883. 



70 
EDWARD LYONS, alias NED LYONS. 



BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-seven years old in 1886. Born in England. Married. Stout build. Height, 
about 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, about 180 pounds. Hair inclined to be sandy. Wears 
it long, covering the ears, one of which (the left one) has the top off. Wears a very 
heavy reddish mustache. Bald on front of head, forming a high forehead. 

RECORD. 

Ned Lyons was born in Manchester, England, in 1839 ; came to America in 1850. 
His father had hard work to make both ends meet and look after his children, and in 
consequence young Ned had things pretty much his own way. They lived in West 
Nineteenth Street, New York City, a neighborhood calculated to develop whatever 
latent powers Ned possessed. The civil war, with its attractions in the shape of 
bounties, etc., proved a bonanza while it lasted, and after that Ned loomed up more 
prominently under the tuition of Jimmy Hope (20). He was afterwards a partner of 
Hope's, and was arrested several times, but never convicted. In 1869 Lyons, Hope, 



I40 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Bliss, Shinborn, and others, robbed the Ocean Bank, of New York, of money and bonds 
amounting to over a million of dollars. The bank was situated on the corner of Fulton 
and Greenwich streets. A basement directly underneath was hired, ostensibly as an 
exchange. To this office tools were carried, and a partition erected, between which the 
burglars worked day and night, when opportunity served, cutting up through the stone 
floor of the bank, and gaining an entrance on Saturday night, after the janitor had left. 
To tear open the vaults was a task requiring time ; but they operated so well, that on 
Monday morning the iron front door of the bank was found unlocked, the vault liter- 
ally torn to pieces, and the floor strown with the debris of tools, mortar, stone, bricks, 
bonds, and gold coin — the bonds being left behind as worthless, and the gold coin as 
too heavy. 

A few years before this robbery Lyons married a young Jewess, named Sophie 
Elkins, alias Levy (128), 2.protdgee of Mrs. Mandlebaum. Her mania for stealing was so 
strong that when in Ned's company in public she plied her vocation unknown to him, and 
would surprise him with watches, etc., which she had stolen. Ned expostulated, pleaded 
with, and threatened her, but without avail ; and after the birth of her first child, George 
(who, by the way, has just finished his second term for burglary in the State Reform- 
atory at Elmira, N. Y.), Ned purchased a farm on Long Island, and furnished a house 
with everything a woman could wish for, thinking her maternal instinct would restrain 
her monomania ; yet within six months she returned to New York, placed her child out 
to nurse, and began her operations again, finally being detected and sentenced to Black- 
well's Island. 

Early In the winter of 1870 Lyons, in connection with Jimmy Hope, George Bliss, 
Ira Kingsland, and a well known Trojan, rifled the safe of the Waterford (N. Y.) Bank, 
securing $150,000. Lyons, Kingsland and Bliss were arrested, and sentenced to Sing 
Sing prison. Hope was shortly after arrested for a bank robbery in Wyoming County, 
and sentenced to five years in State prison at Auburn, N. Y., on November 28, 1870. 
He escaped from there in January, 1873. Lyons escaped from Sing Sing in a wagon 
on December 4, 1872. About two weeks after Ned's escape (December 19, 1872), he, in 
company of another person, drove up in the night-time to the female prison that was then 
on the hill at Sing Sing. One of them, under pretense of bringing a basket of fruit to a 
sick prisoner, rang the bell ; whereupon, by a preconcerted arrangement, Sophie, his wife, 
who had been sent there on October 9, 1871, for five years, rushed out, jumped into the 
carriage, and was driven away. They both went to Canada, where Ned robbed the safe 
of a pawnbroker, securing $20,000 in money and diamonds, and returned to New York, 
where their four children had been left — the eldest at school, the younger ones in an 
orphanage. About this time (September, 1874) the bank at Wellsboro, Pa., was robbed. 
Lyons was strongly suspected of complicity, with George Mason and others, in this 
robbery. Although Sophie and Ned were escaped convicts, they succeeded in evading 
arrest for a long time. Both of them were finally arrested at the Suffolk County (L. I.) 
Fair, at Riverhead, in the first week in October, 1876, detected in the act of picking 
pockets. Two weeks later he was tried in the Court of Sessions of Suffolk County, 
L. I., found guilty, and sentenced to three years and seven months in State prison, 
by Judge Barnard. Sophie was discharged, re-arrested on October 29, 1876, by a 



FROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 141 

detective, and returned to Sing Sing prison to finish out her time. Lyons had on his 
person when arrested at Riverhead $13,000 of good railroad bonds. In 1869 Lyons 
had a street fight with the notorious Jimmy Haggerty, of Philadelphia (who was after- 
wards killed by Reddy the Blacksmith, in Eagan's saloon, corner Houston Street and 
Broadway). During the melee Haggerty succeeded in biting off the greater portion of 
Lyons' left ear. On October 24, 1880, shortly after Ned's release from prison, in a 
drunken altercation, he was shot at the Star and Garter saloon on Sixth Avenue, New 
York City, by Hamilton Brock, better known as " Ham Brock," a Boston sporting man. 
Brock fired two shots, one striking Lyons in the jaw and the other in the body. 

Lyons was arrested again on July 31, 1881, in the act of breaking into the store of 
J. B. Johnson, at South Windham, Conn. He pleaded guilty in the Windam County 
Superior Court, on September 14, 1881, and was sentenced to three years in State 
prison at Wethersfield, Conn. At the time of his arrest in this case he was badly 
shot. That he is now alive, after having a hole put through his body, besides a ball in 
the back, imbedded nine inches, seems almost a miracle. 

Upon the expiration of Ned's sentence in Connecticut, in April, 1884, he was 
re-arrested, and taken to Springfield, Mass., to answer to an indictment charging him 
with a burglary at Palmer, Mass., on the night of July 27, 1881. Four days before he 
was shot at South Windham, Lyons, with two companions, entered the post-office and 
drug store of G. L. Hitchcock, and carried away the contents of the money-drawer and 
a quantity of gold pens, etc. They also took a safe out of the store, carried it a short 
distance out of the village, broke it open, and took some things valued at $350 from it. 

In this case Lyons was sentenced to three years in State prison on May 29, 1884. 

His picture was taken while he was asleep at the hospital in Connecticut, in 1881. 



71 

DANIEL HUNT, alias CARTER, 

alias Martin, alias Mason. 

SNEAK, HIGHWAYMAN, PICKPOCKET, SHOPLIFTER .AND WAGON 

THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Medium build. Ship-joiner by trade. Born in 
United States. Single. Dark brown mustache. Height, 5 feet 8 or 9 inches. Weight, 
about 160 pounds. Brown hair, hazel eyes, dark complexion. 



RECORD. 



Dan Hunt is a very nervy and clever pickpocket, sneak and shoplifter. He will 
also drive away a loaded truck. He is pretty well known in New York and most 
Eastern cities, and works with the best people. He was arrested in New York City on 



142 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

March 25, 1878, and delivered to the police authorities of Brooklyn, N. Y., in company 
of William Bartlett, charged with robbing the cashier of the Planet Mills, in South 
Brooklyn. The cashier was knocked down and robbed of $3,500 on March 25, 1878, 
while within a block of the mills, by three men, who, after the robbery, which was com- 
mitted in broad daylight, jumped into a wagon and escaped. He had drawn the 
money from a New York bank, and was returning with it to the mills for the purpose 
of paying off the hands. He was accompanied by a watchman, but the attack was so 
sudden that both men were knocked down before either could offer any resistance. 

Hunt and Bartlett were arrested on suspicion, brought to trial in Brooklyn, and 
both found guilty on June 29, 1878. The testimony was so contradictory that Judge 
Moore, who presided at the trial, had strong doubts as to the guilt of the prisoners. 
He therefore did not sentence them, but remanded them back to Raymond Street jail, 
pending a motion for a new trial made by their lawyer. A new trial was granted, and 
as the District Attorney had no additional evidence to offer, they were discharged by 
Judge Moore on June 28, 1879, over a year after their arrest. 

Hunt was arrested again in New York City under the name of Mason, and 
sentenced to two years and six months in State prison on January 22, 1880, by Judge 
Cowing, for grand larceny. 

Hunt's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1871. 



72 

WILLIAM MORGAN, alias BILLY MORGAN, 

alias Williams. 

BURGLAR, SNEAK AND TILL-TAPPER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-three years old in 1886. Born in New York. Medium build. Single. 
No trade. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, about 142 pounds. Brown hair, blue 
eyes, florid complexion. Has "W. B. Morgan" in India ink on his right arm; one 
dot of ink on left hand. 

RECORD. 

Billy Morgan is considered one of the smartest till-tappers and shoplifters in 
the business. He has confined himself to till-tapping and work of that description of 
late years, and has been arrested in several of the principal cities in America, and is 
well known in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. He has worked with the best 
people in this line, and thoroughly understands his business. 

He was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 16, 1880, with "Marsh Market 
Jake" (38), Little Al. Wilson, and George Williams (194), for the larceny of $2,200 in 
bank bills from one Henry Ruddy of that city. The whole party were convicted and 
sentenced to eighteen months in the Eastern Penitentiary at Philadelphia on April 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 143 

26, 1880. Since his release he has been traveling through the country working almost 
every kind of schemes to get money. He has been arrested in New York several times. 
An account of all his arrests would fill many pages. 

His picture is a very good one, taken while under arrest, in August, 1882. 



73 

FREDERICK P. GREY. 

BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-two years old in 1886. Born in United States. Medium build. Single. 
No trade. Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weight, 165 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes, 
light complexion, brown mustache, and a thin growth of brown beard. Large ears. 

RECORD. 

Grey, or Gray, is no doubt a clever burglar, from the fact that he was one of the 
" Johnny Dobbs " gang, that gave the authorities all over New England so much trouble 
in 1884. He is from the West, and is not very well known in the Eastern cities. 

He was arrested in Lawrence, Mass., on March 3, 1884, in company of Johnny 
Dobbs (64), Denny Carroll, alias Wm. Thompson, alias " Big Slim" (147), and Tommy 
McCarty, alias Day, alias Tommy Moore, alias " Bridgeport Tommy" (87). See record 
of No. 64 for full particulars. 

Kerrigan, alias Dobbs, and Carroll pleaded guilty. McCarty and Grey stood trial, 
were convicted, appealed their case without avail, and were finally sentenced to ten years 
each in State prison, at Concord, Mass., on February 11, 1885. See record of No. 87. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1884. 



74 

WILLIAM O'BRIEN, alias BILLY PORTER, 

alias Morton. 
SAFE BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-six years old in 1886. Medium build. Born in Boston. Married. Printer. 

Height, 5 feet 51^^ inches. Weight, about 145 pounds. Black curly hair, dark eyes, 

dark complexion. Has fine set of teeth. Has the following India ink marks : Sailor, 

with American flag and star, in red and blue ink, on right arm ; star and cross on 



144 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

outside of same arm ; crucifixion of Christ, woman kneeling and man standing up, on 
left arm. He is a bright, sharp-lo.oking fellow. Dresses well, and has plenty of nerve. 
Generally wears a black mustache. 

RECORD. 

This celebrated criminal is well known all over America as the partner of Johnny 
Irving, who was shot and killed by John Walsh, alias "John the Mick," during a fracas 
in Shang Draper's saloon, on Sixth Avenue, New York City, on the morning of October 
1 6, 1883. Walsh was killed at the same time, and Porter was tried for killing him, but 
was acquitted by a jury on November 20, 1883. 

Porter, or O'Brien, the last being his right name, began his criminal career early 
in life, and has been arrested in almost every city in the Union, and is considered 
second to no one in his business. The following are a few of the cases in which Porter 
has figured : 

He was arrested in New York City on October 11, 1877, for the burglary of 
E. Tilges' warehouse. No. 487 Broome Street, on September i, 1877. Joe Dollard, 
Johnny Irving, and George Howard, alias Leslie (the last mentioned two are now dead), 
were with him. They succeeded in carrying away about $2,000 worth of silk hat linings. 
Porter was committed in default of $4,000 bail by Justice Morgan, but was subsequently 
released. 

Porter and Irving were arrested in New York City, June 5, 1878, and delivered to 
the police authorities of Brooklyn, N. Y., where they were wanted for the robbery of 
Mr. Betterman's dry goods store, in Williamsburg, of $5,000 worth of silk and $1,400 
in money. They were not fully identified in this case, and were discharged. 

Billy Porter, Johnny Irving, and Gilbert Yost (the latter a notorious burglar, was 
sentenced to fourteen years in the Northern Indiana State prison at Michigan City on 
April 25, 1883, for robbing a jewelry store at La Porte, Indiana), were arrested in 
Brooklyn, N. Y., on August 11, 1878, at Porter's residence. No. 152 Patchen Avenue, 
for the burglary of Martin Ibert's Sons' flour and grain store, at No. 148 Graham 
Avenue, on August 10, 1878. Porter was tried twice for this burglary, and each time 
the jury failed to agree. He finally escaped with Irving from Raymond Street jail, in 
Brooklyn, on June i, 1879. 

They both went to Boston, and from there to Providence, R. I., where they were 
joined by Joe Dollard, and on June 27, 1879, the party burglarized the safe of 
C. R. Linke, a large jeweler, at No. ']'] Westminster Street, securing watches and 
silverware of the value of $15,000. On the night of June 30, three nights after this 
robbery, an attempt was made to arrest them in New York City by some private 
detectives, but it failed. 

On July 23 following. Porter and Irving were chased by the police authorities in 
Passaic, N. J., and again escaped. Porter was finally captured in New York City on 
September 28, 1879, and delivered to Sheriff Reilly, of Brooklyn. He was again tried, 
convicted, and sentenced to five years in the Kings County Penitentiary by Judge 
Moore, of Brooklyn, on October 23, 1879. -^^ i^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Porter's mother died in 
Massachusetts during his confinement at "Crow Hill," and left him $12,000. After 



73 



74 



75 




FREDERICK P. GRAY, 
BURGLAR. 



WILLIAM O'BRIEN, 

ALIAS BILLY PORTER, 

BURGLAR. 



GEORGE LOCKWOOD, 

ALIAS CULLY, 

BURGLAR. 



76 



77 



78 




BILLY FORRESTER, 

ALIAS CONRAD FOLTZ, 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



GUST AVE KINDT, 

ALIAS FRENCH GUS, 

BURGLAR AND TOOL MAKER. 



ANDREW CRAIG, 

ALIAS FAIRY McGUIRE 

BURGLAR. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. I45 

Porter's release he remained quiet, and finally sailed for Europe in February, 1884, in 
company of Michael Kurtz, alias "Sheeny Mike" (80), where they had considerable 
luck. They returned to America in January, 1885, with $25,000 each, realized from 
many burglaries in England, France, and Germany. 

Porter was arrested in New York City on Tuesday, January 19, 1885, charged with 
robbing the jewelry store of Emanuel Marks & Son, at Troy, N. Y. The robbery 
occurred on February 24, 1884, and the burglars carried away some $14,000 worth of 
jewelry. He was taken to Troy and committed for trial. If not convicted in this 
case, he will probably be taken to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he is wanted for robbing 
Haydn's jewelry store in 1884. Michael Kurtz was also arrested for this robbery in 
Jacksonville, Fla., on January 19, 1885, returned to Troy, tried and convicted. See 
No. 80. 

Billy Porter also obtained a great deal of notoriety as being one of the men 
suspected of the murder of the noted burglar, George Leonidas Leslie, alias George 
Howard, whose remains were found on June 4, 1878, near Tramp Rock, Westchester 
County, N. Y., with a bullet through his head. He was shot on the night of May 29, 
and carried to where he was found in a wagon. 

Porter's picture is a good one, taken in September, 1875. 



75 
GEORGE LOCKWOOD, alias CULLY LOCKWOOD. 



BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-four years old in 1886. Born in New York. Medium build. Married. 
Plumber. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 153 pounds. Reddish brown hair, 
brown eyes, sandy complexion ; generally wears a sandy mustache. Has pistol-shot 
wound on his arm. 

RECORD. 

George Lockwood, or " Cully," the alias he is best known by, is a professional 
safe-burglar, and a son of respectable parents who reside in New York City. His 
father, a boss plumber, learned Cully his trade. When but a boy he became entangled 
with a gang of thieves who frequented Mrs. Brunker's basement, on the corner of 
Wooster and Houston Streets, New York City, and was arrested for robbing a pawn- 
broker in Amity Street, and again in the Eighth Ward, in November, 1873, for having 
a set of burglars' tools in his possession, one hundred and eight pieces in all. Later 
on he was arrested on suspicion of robbing the premises of Brougham & McGee, gold 
pen and pencil manufacturers, Nos. 79 and 81 William Street. 

He was also arrested for attempting to assassinate Charles Brockway (14), the 
forger, in West Houston Street. Lockwood, as Brockway was passing by, jumped out 



146 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

of the hallway of his wife's (Mrs. Brunker's) residence, and shot Brockway in the back 
Brockway turned and shot him through the arm. He was not prosecuted, as Brockway 
refused to make a complaint. 

He was arrested in New York City in January, 1871, in company of Pete Burns, 
alias McLaughlin, for an attempt at burglary and carrying burglars' tools. Judgment 
was suspended in this case. 

He was arrested again in January, 1874, with Pete Burns, in a thieves' resort that 
had been raided by the police. They were both arraigned on the old suspended 
indictment on January 14, 1874, and Burns pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two 
years and six months in State prison. Lockwood was remanded until January 21, 
when he also pleaded guilty to burglary in the third degree, and was sentenced to two 
years and six months in State prison at Sing Sing, under the name of George Jackson. 

He was arrested in the Eighth Ward, New York City, on December i, 1878, 
on suspicion of a burglary, but was discharged. 

Next he was arrested in New York City on January 8, 1880, with Charley Woods, 
alias Fowler, on suspicion of robbing Station F, New York Post-office, but was dis- 
charged by Justice Bixby for lack of evidence. 

Arrested again in New York City on January i, 1880, and tried in the Court of 
Special Sessions, on June 15, 1880, for assaulting a man named James Casey, of New 
Jersey, whom he mistook for an officer who had arrested him some time before for 
burglary. He succeeded in keeping Casey out of court on the day of his trial, and the 
court, being in ignorance of his character, discharged him. 

He was afterwards arrested in New York City with Jim Elliott, the prize-fighter 
(now dead), on June 24, 1880, secreted in the cellar of Cornelius Clark's saloon, at No. 
86 Henry Street. They had bored through the floor with the view of robbing a safe 
containing about $500 in money, and some jewelry that was in the store. A full set of 
burglars' tools was found with them. In this case they pleaded guilty, and were 
sentenced to two years each in State prison, on June 30, 1880, by Judge Cowing. 

Lockwood was arrested again in New York City on October 14, 1884, in company 
of Frank Russell, alias Little Frank, another sneak and burglar, for the larceny of 
three watches from the store of Conrad Baumgarth, No. 16 Sixth Avenue, in July, 
1884. "Cully" was committed for trial in $1,000 bail, by Judge Patterson, but dis- 
charged in the Court of General Sessions, by Judge Cowing, on November 7, 1884. 
He was arrested again in Albany, N. Y., in company of Andrew McAllier, for attempt 
at burglary. They were sentenced to eighteen months in the Albany Penitentiary, 
on June 26, 1885, by John C. Nott, County Judge, and his sentence will expire on 
September 25, 1886. Lockwood ten years ago was considered a very skillful and nervy 
burglar. It is claimed that he is a first-class mechanic and manufactured all his tools. 
He and Johnny Coady generally use the wood screw for forcing in an outside door. 
A hole is bored with an auger in the jamb of the door, exactly behind the nosing of the 
lock, after which a wood screw is inserted into the hole, and with the aid of a good bit- 
stock or brace, the nosing of the lock is easily and quietly forced off. Of late he has 
become somewhat dissipated, and is not rated now as a first-class criminal. 

His picture is a good one, taken in November, 1877. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 147 

76 

BILLY FORRESTER, alias CONRAD FOLTZ, 

alias Matthews, Marshall, Frank Campbell, Livingston, 
Howard, Matthew Riley, Brown, Frank Harding, 

and Lew Kerns. 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK, AND S0-CALLEI5 NATHAN MURDERER, 

OF NEW YORK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-five years old in 1886. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Dark complexion, dark 
hair, dark hazel eyes, that are very piercing. Wears dark mustache. He is a broad- 
shouldered, well-built man. Weighs 1 50 pounds, and although in prison so long is a 
good man yet. Has a goddess of liberty in India ink on his right arm ; an eagle, flag 
and dim anchor on left hand, between thumb and forefinger ; Indian queen sitting on 
the back of an eagle on the left leg ; full-rigged ship on his breast ; United States coat- 
of-arms on left arm ; red and blue ink bracelets on each wrist. Small but prominent 
scar one inch below the right eye. Both ears pierced for earrings ; high, square fore- 
head ; small, narrow foot ; tooth out of upper jaw, left side. Born in Lafourche County, 
La., and has served time in Sing Sing, N. Y. ; Jackson, Miss.; Baton Rouge, La.; 
'Chicago, 111. ; Memphis, Tenn. ; Detroit, Mich. ; and Philadelphia, Pa. 

RECORD. 

Billy Forrester, as an expert, outranks many of the leading criminals in America. 
The first robbery of any importance that he committed was that of a United States 
paymaster, from whom he got $1,200, on a steamboat, near Vicksburg. 

He was next arrested for the murder of a man named Neely, in Detroit, Michigan, 
after robbing him of $3,500 at cards. Of this charge he was acquitted on the ground 
of self-defense. He went to Canada, then to Baltimore, Md., where it is said he 
married a wealthy woman ; shortly after which he paid Chicago, III, a visit, and was 
arrested there for highway robbery, and sentenced to thirteen years in Joliet (111.) 
Penitentiary on June 13, 1868. He soon made his escape, was recaptured, and escaped 
again in i86g. On June 12, 1870, Forrester was arrested in New Orleans, La. ; he was 
discharged on a writ on June 16, and was re-arrested, and again discharged, and 
remained around New Orleans. 

On January i, 1871, Schoeler & Co.'s jewelry store on Canal Street, New Orleans, 
was robbed of diamonds, watches and jewelry valued at $83,000. Daigo Frank and 
Dave Cummings (50) were arrested for this robbery, but Forrester escaped, and shortly 
after assisted in releasing three burglars from jail in Mobile, Ala., in a most daring 
manner. His next appearance was at the time of his arrest, in New York City, for the 
murder of Benjamin Nathan, on Twenty-third Street, near Fifth Avenue. The only 
witness in the case identified him, but he was discharged after proving an alibi. He 



148 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

offered during his confinement in the Tombs prison to name the Nathan murderer if 
his unexpired sentence at Joliet prison should be commuted. His offer was declined, 
and he was returned to Joliet. His sentence expired there January 12, 1880. 

On May 23, 1881, one Conrad Foltz was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., for the 
Ashton burglary. A strong effort was made to bail him, when he was recognized as 
Billy Forrester, and he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years in Cherry Hill 
prison. His sentence expired in November, 1885. He is now at large, and is liable to 
turn up at any minute. 

Forrester's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1881. 



77 

GUSTAVE KINDT, alias FRANK LAVOY, 

alias French Gus, alias Isadore Marshall, alias " Frenchy," 

alias Gus Marechal. 

BURGLAR AND TOOLMAKER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty years old in 1886. Stout build. Born in Belgium, Widower. Height, 
5 feet 6}^ inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Brown hair, keen gray eyes, fresh rosy face, 
dark complexion. High forehead. Generally wears a gray silky mustache and 
imperial. He is a square, muscular man. Speaks English fluently. Dresses like a 
well-to-do mechanic. Has a scar on his left jaw. 

RECORD. 

Kindt, or "Frenchy," is a celebrated criminal. He came to this country when 
very young. He is a skillful mechanic, and is credited with being able to fit a key 
as well, if not better, than any man in America. He also manufactures tools and hires 
them out to professional burglars on a percentage. 

In January, 1869, he was sent to Sing Sing prison for ten years for robbing the 
watch-case manufactory of Wheeler & Parsons, in Brooklyn, N. Y., where he was 
employed. On February 5, 1871, he escaped from Sing Sing by cutting through the 
bars of his cell with saws, which friends had managed to convey to him. 

On October 17, 1872, he was arrested for robbing a jewelry store in Hackensack, 
N. J., and sent back to Sing Sing prison. He devoted his time to the invention of a 
lever lock, by which a single key could unlock all or part of the cell doors at once, and 
offered the lock, which he completed in 1874, to the prison authorities on condition that 
he should receive his freedom. The proposition was laid before Governor Tilden, who 
rejected it. "Frenchy" escaped again in 1875, and went to Canada, where he was 
sentenced to three years' imprisonment for robbing a pawnbroker in Montreal. Thirty- 
seven diamonds, which he had shipped to his daughter in New York, were recovered. 
After serving out his time in Montreal, where he introduced his lock, he went to 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 149 

St. Albans, Vt., where he was arrested as an escaped convict on February 3, 1880. 
While on his way back to Sing Sing prison, in custody of an officer of Sing Sing 
prison, when near Troy, N. Y., on February 4, he made a dash for liberty. He 
leaped out of the car and ran across the fields. The officer followed and fired one shot. 
French Gus staggered, put his left hand to his cheek, but kept on. He fired again, 
and the burglar, flinging his arms in the air, fell headlong to the earth. He had been 
hit in the cheek and the back of the head. He was carried back to the train, and 
reached Sing Sing in a dying condition. He recovered, however, and on February 21, 
1884, he was discharged, having finally expiated the crime of 1869. 

Immediately upon his discharge he was arrested and taken to Hackensack, N. J., 
to be tried for robbing a jewelry store there in 1872, an indictment having been found 
during his confinement in Sing Sing. There was not evidence enough to convict him, 
and he was released, after two months' confinement. 

Kindt was next arrested in New York City, on May 23, 1885, charged with burglar- 
izing the safe of Smith & Co., No. 45 Park Place, on April 27, 1885, where he obtained 
one $5,000 and one $1,750 bond, two watches, and $80 in money. He was also charged 
with robbing the store of G. B. Horton & Co., No. 59 Frankfort Street, of $234 in 
money and some postage stamps. The detectives searched the rooms of his daughter. 
Rose Kindt, in East Eleventh Street, New York City, and there found a complete and 
beautifully made set of burglars' tools. In a sofa which they tore apart were sectional 
jimmies of the most improved pattern ; under the carpet were saws and small tools of 
every variety ; concealed elsewhere in the rooms were drags, drills, wrenches, crucibles 
for melting gold and silver, fuses, skeleton keys, wax, impressions of keys, etc. They also 
found what had been stolen from Smith & Co., and Horton & Co., with the exception 
of the money. When Kindt was confronted with his daughter, who had been arrested 
but was subsequently released, he confessed to all, and also charged Frank McCoy, alias 
"Big Frank" (89), with trying to obtain his services to rob the Butchers and Drovers' 
Bank of New York City. 

Kindt pleaded guilty to two charges of burglary, and was sentenced to six years in 
State prison on June 4, 1885, by Judge Barrett, in the Court of Oyer and Terminer, 
New York City. 

Kindt's picture is an excellent one, taken in May, 1885, 



78 
ANDREW McGUIRE, alias - FAIRY" McGUIRE, 

alias Andrew Craig. 
BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Slim build. Married. 
Cigar-maker. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 120 pounds. Brown hair, blue 



I50 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

eyes, fair complexion, bald head. Generally wears a full reddish-brown beard and 

mustache. 

RECORD. 

" Fairy " McGuire is probably one of the most daring and desperate thieves in 
America, and is well known in almost all the large cities. He served a fifteen years' 
sentence in Bangor, Maine, for highway robbery ; also a term in Clinton prison, New 
York State, for burglary. 

He was arrested in New York City on March 6, 1881, in front of No. 53 Nassau 
Street, occupied by L. Durr & Bro., assayers and refiners of gold and silver. An 
officer discovered the burglars at work in the store, and while looking in the window 
was approached by McGuire, who commenced talking loudly, thereby giving the men 
on the inside a chance to escape. McGuire was arrested, and upon the premises 
being examined it was found that three safes were partly torn open ; they also found 
a full set of burglars' tools. As no connection could be made with McGuire and the 
people on the inside, he had to be discharged. 

He was arrested again in New York City on March 17, 1881, and delivered to the 
Brooklyn police authorities, charged with robbing Miss Elizabeth Roberts, of Second 
Place, in that city. Four men entered the basement door of the house, bound the 
servant and tied her to a chair ; then went upstairs, bound and gagged Miss Roberts, 
and took $3,000 in Cairo City Water bonds, numbered respectively 52, 71 and 72, also 
about $500 worth of jewelry. Although there was no doubt that McGuire was one of 
the four men engaged in this robbery, he was discharged, as the parties could not 
identify him, on account of being disguised on the day of the robbery. 

He was arrested again in Newark, N. J., on July 5, 1881, charged with "blowing" 
open the safe in James Traphagen's jewelry store on Broad Street, that city. When the 
officers pursued McGuire, he turned and fired several shots at them. A party giving 
the name of George Williams, alias Dempsey, was arrested also. McGuire was tried 
and convicted on three indictments on October 18, 1881, one for burglary and two for 
felonious assault. He was sentenced to ten years in Trenton prison on each indictment» 
making thirty years in all, on October 19, 1881. 

Williams was sentenced to two years for burglary the same day. 

McGuire's picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1881. 



79 

FRANK REILLY, alias HARRISON, 

alias Donovan, alias Stuart. 

PICKPOCKET AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-three years old in 1886. Born in New York. Medium build. No trade. 
Married. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 132 pounds. Light-brown hair, brown 
eyes, thin face, ruddy complexion. Small, light-colored mustache. 



79 



80 



81 




FRANK RE ILLY. 
BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



MICHAEL KURTZ. 

ALIAS SHEENY MIKE, 

BURGLAR. 



FREDERICK BENNETT, 

ALIAS DUTCH FRED, 

BURGLAR. 



82 



83 



84 




MICHAEL QUINN. 

ALIAS SHANG QUINN, 

BURGLAR. 



JOHN JOURDAV, 

ALIAS JAMISON, 

BURGLAR AND BANK SNEAK, 



JOSEPH PARISH. 
3URGLAR AND SNEAK. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 151 

RECORD. 
Reillv has been known under a great many names. He is now thirty-three years 
old, and was only seventeen when he made the acquaintance of the police. That was 
in 1870, when he was arrested in Morrisania, N. Y., for a burglary at White Plains. 
While in the jail at White Plains awaiting trial, he noticed that the Inner door of the 
prison was open at dinner-time and the outer door was shut, while at other times the 
outer door was open and the inner door closed. By the simple expedient of hiding 
himself between the two doors at dinner-time he found himself a free man. The 
following year he was recaptured, and sentenced to Sing Sing prison for five years. 
Two constables started to drive with him to the prison, and when about half-way Reilly 
suddenly slipped the handcuffs off", darted out of the coach, and disappeared. For two 
days the woods were searched in the vicinity by the constables and country folk, and then 
Reilly was found hidden in a swamp, half starved. After serving two years at Sing 
Sing he was transferred to Clinton prison, from which he almost succeeded in escaping, 
having got out of his cell and was in the act of breaking open the door to the roof 
when discovered. He had torn his bedclothes into strips and braided them into a rope, 
with which to let himself down. 

In the latter part of 1874 his term expired, he having been granted commutation 
for good behavior, and he returned to New York, where he speedily became embroiled 
with the police. In that same year (1874) he was arrested for trying to rescue two 
burglars from the police, and was sent to Blackwell's Island penitentiary for one year 
for disorderly conduct. He stayed there exactly two hours, walking calmly out past 
the keepers without being questioned by any one, and coming back to the city on the 
same boat which took him to the Island. 

The next year (1875) he broke out of the Yorkville prison. New York City, where 
he was confined for stabbing a United States deputy marshal, by spreading the bars of 
his cell with a lever made out of a joist. He went to Philadelphia, where, in February, 
1876, he and some of his companions were caught breaking into a warehouse. One 
of the burglars fired at a policeman, wounding him. The other policemen returned the 
fire, and Reilly received four bullets in his body. 

After spending five months in a hospital he spent two years in the Eastern Peni- 
tentiary, at Philadelphia. On his release he returned to New York, and between 1878 
and 1882 he served two terms for burglary in Sing Sing 'prison. It was after being 
released from Sing Sing the second time that he made a desperate attempt to break 
out of the Tombs prison, in New York, where he was awaiting trial for assault. His 
cell was on the eastern side of the second tier. He had a common pocket-knife, and a 
broken glazier's knife, which served as a chisel. With these tools he dug through the 
wall, under a drain-pipe in his cell, and one night was discovered by a keeper in the 
prison yard. He was taken to a new cell, and when he was sentenced to Blackwell's 
Island the warden breathed a sigh of relief. 

After his release from the penitentiary he was arrested again in New York City, 
and sentenced to Sing Sing State prison on September 25, 1883, for five years, for 
robbing a man in Bleecker Street of $140. He escaped from the mess-room there 
on November 14, 1883, with Charles Wilson, alias "Little Paul" (29), by sawing the 



152 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

bars of a window opening into the yard, and after getting out of prison they walked to 
New York. 

Scarcely three weeks had elapsed when Reilly again got into trouble in New York 
City. He and some companions resisted an officer who tried to arrest them for 
disorderly conduct. In the row Reilly got clubbed, and was sent as a prisoner to the 
Presbyterian Hospital, where an officer was sent to watch him. The officer fell asleep, 
and Reilly, whose wounds had been bandaged, got up, stole the orderly's clothes from 
under his pillow, and made his way to a second-story window, from which he dropped 
to the ground. He could find no shoes in the hospital, and had to walk three miles in 
his bare feet before reaching the house of a friend. 

He was arrested again in New York- City for beating a woman named Clara 
Devine, on New-year's day (1884), and committed for ten days, for disorderly conduct, 
by Justice White, in Jefferson Market Police Court. Shortly after his committal he 
was identified by a detective sergeant, and taken .back to Sing Sing prison on January 
5, 1884, to serve out his runaway time. His sentence will expire, if he does not 
receive any commutation, on September 24, 1888. Should he receive his commutation, 
it will expire on April 24, 1887. 

Reilly's picture is a very good one. It was taken in November, 1878. 



80 

MICHAEL KURTZ, alias MICHAEL SHEEHAN, 

alias Sheeny Mike. 
BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. A Jew, Married. Slim 
build. Carpenter. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 115 pounds. Black hair, hazel 
eyes, dark complexion, heavy eyebrows, Roman nose. Has a small wreath in India 
ink and number " 44 " on right arm ; left arm spotted with ink ; ink ring on the third 
finger of left hand. 

RECORD. 

" Sheeny Mike." This celebrated criminal's history is a most eventful one. He 
was for years associated with a gang of skillful burglars, of which George Howard, 
alias Leslie (now dead), was the leader. Kurtz, which is his right name, made the 
acquaintance of Howard in Philadelphia, Pa., and was associated with him in several 
burglaries in that city. 

When Howard took up his quarters in Brooklyn, N. Y., he gathered about him 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 153 

one of the strongest bands of burglars and thieves that ever existed. Among them 
was"Eddie"Goodey (no), "Johnny" Dobbs (64), "Billy" Porter (74), "Jim" Brady, 
Johnny Irving (now dead), John Green, John Wilson, alias " Dutch Chris," Jimmy 
Wilmont, alias "Mysterious Jimmy," Frank McCoy, alias "Big Frank" (89), Pete 
Emmerson, alias Banjo Pete (90), George Mason, alias Gordon (24), Joe Bollard, and 
Kurtz. Howard won his place as chief by his knowledge of safes and mechanism of 
combination locks, which he made a special study. Sheeny Mike was esteemed as a 
valuable member of the combination by reason of his quickness to observe the peculiar 
construction of buildings which it was determined to rob, and to demonstrate their 
weak points. He was never a bank burglar, but he is very clever at secreting himself 
in buildings and cutting through floors and partitions. He is also an expert safe- 
blower, and has a particular affection for jewelry and silk goods, and has been arrested 
so many times that it would be almost impossible to enumerate them. I will mention 
a few of them, which may be of service to you, should he fall into your hands. 

Mike and John Wilson, alias "Dutch Chris," were arrested in New York City on 
February 15, 1877, charged with robbing the cloak house of Hahn, Benjamin & Co., 
Nos. 313 and 315 Broadway, on the night of February 4, 1877, of silk cloaks, etc., 
valued at $6,000. Mike was discharged on account of witnesses failing to fully identify 
him. Dutch Chris pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three years in State prison by 
Judge Sutherland, in the Court of General Sessions, on February 19, 1877. 

On March 4, 1877, Mike was arrested in Baltimore, Md., and taken to Boston, 
Mass., charged with robbing the silk house of Scott & Co. of that city. He was 
convicted on March 29, 1877, and sentenced to twelve years in State prison. While in 
prison there he made himself very sick and thin by drinking soap-water, and with the 
aid of a preparation, and by making an incision, he caused a pus to flow from his side. 
The prison physicians in examining him, gave it as their opinion that he would not live 
a month, as he was wasting away on account of prison confinement. On their report 
he was pardoned by Governor Butler, on October 19, 1880. Before his pardon was 
granted, he told Mr. Scott that all the stolen silk was sold to Mrs. Mandelbaum in 
New York. The firm commenced suit against her and obtained a judgment for the 
full amount stolen. 

He was arrested again in New York City on January 30, 1881, and delivered to 
the police authorities of Washington, D. C, charged with robbing a dry goods store 
there on December 23, 1880, of silks, etc., valued at $5,000. In this case he was 
discharged. 

Mike was arrested again in Pittsburg, Pa., on May 17, 1882, for having burglars' 
tools in his possession. In this case he was also discharged. 

He was arrested again in New York City on July 19, 1882, with John Love (68), 
for complicity in the robbery of $5,000 from the Italian-American Bank of New York. 
They were both discharged, as the parties who had previously given a good description 
of them to the police failed to identify them when confronted with them. 

Arrested again in New York City, on August 27, 1883, on a warrant issued by 
United States Commissioner Osborn, dated June 5, 1883, charging him with the larceny 
of diamonds and jewelry, valued at $658, from one Charles F. Wood, of Washington 



154 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

City. He was delivered to United States Marshal Bernhard, and admitted to bail by- 
Judge Brown, in the United States Court, on September 9, 1883. 

In February, 1884, the jewelry store of Marks & Son, of Troy, N. Y., was robbed 
of diamonds and jewelry valued at $14,000. Suspicion pointed towards Sheeny Mike 
and Billy Porter, both of whom left for England shortly after. In April, 1885, they 
returned to America and remained only a short time, going back. Mike made a 
second visit to America in November, 1885, leaving Porter behind him in France. He 
remained in New York for a short time and went into the cigar business with his 
brother on Eighth Avenue, but the store was sold out, and they, in company of 
Mike's wife, went to Jacksonville, Florida, and started in the tobacco business. He 
also purchased an orange grove. In the early part of January, 1886, the tobacco 
factory burned down and Mike went to live on his grove. On January 19, 1886, he 
was arrested there charged with the Troy robbery. He obtained a writ of habeas 
corpus and fought the ofificers. The writ was dismissed by the Circuit Court at 
Jacksonville, Florida, on February 11, 1886, but his lawyer appealed from their 
decision, and the case was argued in the Supreme Court at Tallahassee, Florida, and 
decided against him. He was delivered to the ofificers and lodged in the jail at Troy, 
N. Y., on March 21, 1886. He was tried at Troy, N. Y., for the Marks burglary, on 
March 26, 27, and 28, found guilty, and sentenced to eighteen years and six months in 
State prison at Dannemora, N. Y., on March 30, 1886. After his sentence he made a 
statement, or " squealed," and implicated several people in this robbery. He, however, 
subsequently refused to substantiate it. 

Billy Porter was arrested in this case. See record of No. 74. 

Joe Dubuque was also arrested in this case, but finally admitted to bail. 

Kurtz's picture is a splendid one, although avoided. It was taken in February, 1877. 



81 

FREDERICK BENNER, alias DUTCH FRED, 

alias Frank Belmont, alias Frederick Bennett. 

PICKPOCKET AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-three years old in 1886. German. Born in United States. Barkeeper. 
Married. Well built. Height, 5 feet 6>^ inches. Weight, 148 pounds. Light hair, 
blue eyes, light complexion. Wears a light-colored mustache. Has letters " F. E." 
in India ink on his left fore-arm. 

RECORD. 

Benner, alias " Dutch Fred," is a New York burglar and pickpocket, having 
served time in Philadelphia and New York penitentiaries for both ofifenses. He is 
very well known in both cities and is considered a clever man. 

He was arrested on May 31, 1879, in the Lutheran Cemetery, on Long Island, 
N. Y., in company of Johnny Gantz, another New York pickpocket, charged with 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 155 

picking a woman's pocket. He was sentenced to five years in Sing Sing prison, in the 
Queens County, Long Island, Court, in June, 1879. ^^ made his escape from the jail 
in Long Island City, in company of three other prisoners, on June 28, 1879, by sawing 
through the iron bars of the jail windows. He was arrested again- in New York City 
on July 24, 1879, and delivered to the Sheriff of Queens County, who at once delivered 
him to the prison authorities at Sing Sing. 

Benner was arrested again in New York City, and sentenced to three years and 
six months in State prison at Sing Sing, on August 20, 1883, for burglary, under the 
name of Frederick Bennett. His time expired on April 20, 1886. 

" Dutch Fred's" picture is a good one, taken in October, 1877. 



82 
MICHAEL QUINN, alias SHANG QUINN. 



alias Irving. 

BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1886. Medium build. Born in Ireland. Single, Black- 
smith. Height, 6 feet i inch. Weight, about 180 pounds. Black hair, gray eyes, 
dark complexion. Wears black mustache and side-whiskers. Has a star in India ink 

on left arm. 

RECORD. 

"Shang" Quinn is an old and expert burglar and pickpocket, and is known in 
most all the principal cities of the United States, and has served considerable time in 
State prisons. He is considered to be a very clever safe burglar. 

He pleaded guilty in the Court of General Sessions, New York City, on August 
23, 1880, to larceny of $85 from one Edward Stroyck, of No. 21 Tenth Avenue, and 
was remanded to August 28, 1880, when he was sentenced to two years and six months 
in Sing Sing prison, under the name of William Parker, by Judge Cowing. He had 
previously served two years in the same institution for a larceny. 

Quinn's picture is a good one, taken in November, 1875. 



83 
JOHN JOURDAN, alias JONATHAN JAMISON, 

alias DupoNT. 

BURGLAR AND BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 8^ inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Light brown hair, 



156 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

dark eyes, dark complexion, long slim nose, pock-marked. Cross in India ink on left 
fore-arm; number "6" on back of one arm; wreath, with the word "Love" in it, on 
left arm. 

RECORD 

Johnny Jourdan is a professional safe-blower and sneak thief, and has worked 
with the best safemen and sneaks in America, and has quite a reputation for getting 
out of toils when arrested. 

He was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., and sentenced to four years in the Eastern 
Penitentiary in August, 1874, under the name of Jonathan Jamison. He was again 
arrested in New York City in November, 1880, and confined in the Tombs prison, 
charged with robbing the Middletown Bank, of Connecticut, in July, 1880, where the 
gang, Rufe Minor, George Carson and Horace Hovan, obtained some $48,000 in 
money and bonds. Jourdan played sick, and was transferred from the prison to 
Bellevue Hospital, from which place he escaped on Thursday, April 14, 1881. 

In the fall of 1884 Jourdan made up a party consisting of Philly Phearson (5), 
Johnny Carroll, "The Kid" (192), and Old Bill Vosburg (4). They traveled around 
the country, and did considerable bank sneaking. They tried to rob a man in a bank 
at Rochester, N. Y., but failed. They followed him from the bank to a hotel, and 
while he was in the water-closet they took a pocket-book from him, but not the one 
with the money in it. Phearson and Carroll escaped. Jourdan and Vosburg were 
arrested and sentenced to two years and six months for assault in the second degree, by 
Judge John S. Morgan, on June 15, 1885. Jourdan gave the name of Henry Osgood. 

He is well known in all the principal cities in America, and is considered one 
of the cleverest men in America in his line. 

His picture is a very good one, taken in 1877. 



84 
JOSEPH PARISH, 



PICKPOCKET, PENNYWEIGHT, SLEEPING-CAR WORKER. BANK 

SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-six years old in 1886. Born in Michigan. An artist by trade. Married. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 164 pounds. Hair black, mixed with 
gray ; bluish-gray eyes ; large and prominent features ; dark complexion. Generally 
wears a full, dark-brown beard, cut short. High, retreating forehead. High cheek 
bones and narrow chin. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 157 

RECORD. 

Joe Parish is a Western pickpocket and general thief, and is one of the most 
celebrated criminals in America. He has been actively engaged in crooked work for 
the last twenty-five years, and if all his exploits were written up they would astonish 
the reader. In his time he is said to have had permission to work in many of the large 
cities in the West. He attempted to ply his vocation in New York City a few years 
ago, but was ordered to leave the city. Several Southern cities have suffered from 
his depredations. He is said to have been with General Greenthal and his gang, who 
were arrested at Syracuse, N. Y., on March 11, 1877, for robbing a man at the railroad 
depot there out of $1,190, on March i, 1877. Parish is well known in Chicago, 111., 
where he has property and a wife and family of three girls and one boy. He at one 
time kept a large billiard parlor in Davenport, Iowa, but, being crooked, he was driven 
out of the town. 

He was finally arrested in Chicago, 111., on February 13, 1883, and delivered to the 
chief of police of Syracuse, N. Y. He was taken there, and sentenced to eight years in 
Auburn prison, N. Y., on April 29, 1883, for robbing one Delos S. Johnson, of Fabius, 
N. Y., on the Binghamton road. 

Parish's picture is an excellent one, taken in May, 1883. 



85 

WILLIAM BEATTY, alias BILLY BURKE, 

alias Baker. 
BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Medium build. Married. 
Barkeeper. Height, 5 feet 8>^ inches. Weight, 148 pounds. Black hair, gray eyes, 
dark complexion. Has letters " W. S." and coat of arms in India ink on left fore-arm. 
Generally wears a brown mustache. 

RECORD. 

Beatty was arrested in New York City and sentenced to three years and six 
months in Sing Sing prison, on April 8, 1875, for burglary, under the name of William 
Brown. He was arrested in company of Andy Hess, another New York burglar, who 
gave the name of Alfred Brown, for a silk burglary in the Eighth Ward, New York 

City. 

He was arrested again in New York City on May 18, 1878, for the larceny of $57 
from a poor woman named Brady, who lived at No. 214 East Thirty-eighth Street, 
New York. He was committed for trial by Judge Wandell, but discharged by the 
District Attorney on a promise to return some stolen property to one Mr. St. John, 



158 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

which he never did. He is a mean thief, and is called by other thieves a "squealer." 
He is well known in New York, Boston and Albany, and other Eastern cities. 
His picture is a good one, taken in February, 1878. 



86 
JOHN T. IRVING, alias OLD JACK. 



BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-eight years old in 1886. Born in New York. Married. Medium build. 
Height, 5 feet 4 inches. Weight, about 130 pounds. Gray hair; generally wears a 
gray«mustache. He shows his age on account of his long prison life, but is still capable 
of doing a good job. 

RECORD. 

"Old Jack," as he is called, is one of the most celebrated criminals in America. 
He was born and brought up in the Fourth Ward of New York City, and has, for 
some offense or other, served time in State prisons from Maine to California. 

He created considerable excitement in the early part of 1873, while under arrest 
for burglary in San Francisco, Cal., by declaring himself the murderer of Benjamin 
Nathan, who was killed at his residence in Twenty-third Street, New York City, on 
Friday morning, July 29, 1870. He was brought from California on an indictment 
charging him with burglarizing the jewelry store of Henry A. Casperfeldt, at No. 206 
Chatham Street, on June i, 1873, and stealing therefrom eighty-seven silver watches, 
four gold watches, and a number of gold and precious stone rings. Irving and another 
man rented a room at No. 3 Doyer Street, and forced an entrance into the store from the 
rear. 

After his return from California he was confined in the Tombs prison, and while 
there, on November 22, 1873, he made another statement in which he alleged that he 
was one of the burglars who robbed Nathan's house, and offered to tell who it was that 
killed the banker. The matter was thoroughly investigated by the authorities, who 
concluded that Irving was only trying to avoid the consequences of the two burglaries 
he was indicted for. He was therefore placed on trial in the Court of General Sessions, 
in New York City, on December 8, 1873, 3-"^ found guilty of the Casperfeldt burglary, 
and also for another one, committed in -the Fifth Ward. He was sentenced to five 
years on the first charge and two years and six months on the second one, making 
seven years and six months in all. 

Irving, some years ago, was shot while escaping from a bonded warehouse m 
Brooklyn, N. Y., and believing himself about to die, betrayed his comrades. He 
recovered from his wounds, and was discharged from custody. 



85 



86 



87 




WILLIAM BEATTY, 

ALIAS BILLY BURKE, 

BURGLAR. 



JOHN T. IRVING, 

ALIAS OLD JACK, 

BURGLAR. 



THOS. McCARTY, 

ALIAS MOORE, 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



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MICHAEL HURLEY, 

ALIAS PUGSEY HURLEY, 

MASKED BURGLAR. 



FRANK McCOY, 

ALIAS BIG FRANK, 

BANK BURGLAR. 



PETER EMERSON, 

ALIAS BANJO PETE, 

BANK BURGLAR. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 159 

After that, in company with others, he attempted to rob Simpson's pawnshop, in 
the Bowery, New York City. The burglars hired a suite of rooms in the adjoining 
house, and drilled through the walls into the vault. The plot was discovered by the 
police, who, however, were unable to capture them, as the cracksmen were frightened 
away by a party living in the house. 

He was arrested again in New York City on April 26, 1881, under the name of 
George Mason, in company of another notorious thief named John Jennings, alias 
Connors, alias " Liverpool Jack," in the act of robbing the tea store of Gerhard Over- 
haus. No. 219 Grand Street. They were both committed in $3,000 bail for trial by 
Justice Wandell. Both pleaded guilty to burglary in the third degree, in the Court of 
General Sessions, and were sentenced to two years and six months in the penitentiary, 
on May 10, 1881, by Judge Gildersleeve. 

Irving was arrested again in New York City on suspicion of burglary, on April 22, 
1886. The complainant failed to identify him, and he was discharged. He is now at 
large. 

Irving's picture resembles him to-day, although taken some fifteen years ago. 



87 

THOMAS McCARTY, alias TOMMY MOORE, 

alias George Day, alias Bridgeport Tommy. 

BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Stout build. Sandy complexion. 
Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 160 pounds. Light brown hair, brown eyes, high 
cheek bones. Has an India ink ring on second finger of left hand. Generally wears 
a sandy mustache. 

RECORD. 

" Tommy Moore," or McCarty, the latter being his right name, is a well known 
New York sneak, pickpocket and burglar. He was formerly an associate of Joe Parish. 
He went to Europe, and on his return fell in with Johnny Dobbs, and worked with him 
all over the United States until the gang was arrested in Massachusetts. He is known 
East and West, and is considered a first-class outside man. He formerly lived in 
Bridgeport, Conn., where he was known as " Bridgeport Tommy." 

He was arrested in Lawrence, Mass., on March 3, 1884, under the name of George 
Day, in company of Mike Kerrigan, alias Johnny Dobbs, Dennis Carroll, alias Wm. 
Thompson (147), Frederick P. Gray ijz) and John Love (68), with burglars' tools in 
their possession. They had just left their rooms to commit a burglary, when the 
marshal and his ofificers made a dash for fehem and succeeded in holding four of them. 
The fifth man, Johnny Love, escaped from the officer. After their arrest, their rooms at 



i6o PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

the Franklin House were searched, and one of the most complete set of burglars' tools 
ever made was found there. 

On March 6, 1884, Dobbs, Day and Gray were committed for trial in $10,000 bail 
each. Thompson, who had fired several shots at the officers, was committed in $20,000 
bail. 

Kerrigan, alias Dobbs, and Thompson pleaded guilty, in the Superior Court of 
Lawrence, Mass., to having burglars' tools in their possession, and were sentenced to 
ten years each in Concord prison, on July 9, 1884. 

McCarty, or Day, and Gray stood trial, were convicted, and sentenced in the same 
court, on jFebruary 11, 1885, to ten years each. 

McCarty's picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1884. 



88 

MICHAEL HURLEY, alias PUGSEY HURLEY, 

alias Reilly, alias Hanley. 

MASKED BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty years old in 1886. Born in England. Medium build. Machinist by trade. 
Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 135 pounds. Brown hair, hazel eyes, fair complexion, 
pug nose. Has an eagle, with star underneath, in India ink, on inside of right arm. 

RECORD. 

" PuGSEY " Hurley is an old Seventh Ward, New York, thief. He was one of 
the New Rochelle, N. Y., masked burglars. The gang consisted of " Dan " Kelly, 
Larry Griffin, Patsey Conroy (now dead). Big John Garvey (now dead), Frank Kayton, 
Frank Woods, "Shang" Campbell, Mike Kerrigan, alias Johnny Dobbs, John O'Donnell, 
John Orr (now dead), Dennis Brady, George Maillard and Hurley, and their 
headquarters was at Maillard's saloon, corner Washington and Canal streets. New 
York City. 

The principal offense of which Hurley was convicted and for which he was 
sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment, was committed at the country residence 
of Mr. J. P. Emmet, known as " The Cottage," at Pelham, near New Rochelle, N. Y., 
on December 23, 1873. O^i that night Hurley, in company with others of the 
gang of well organized and desperate masked burglars, of which " Patsey " Conroy was 
said to be the leader, broke into Mr. Emmet's residence, and after surprising the 
occupant, his nephew and servants, bound and gagged them, and afterwards ransacked 
the house, getting altogether about $750 worth of plunder, with which they escaped. 
The same gang, on the night of October 17, 1873, broke into the house of Abram Post, 
a wealthy farmer, living three miles from Catskill village, on the Hudson River, tied 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. l6i 

up the occupants and plundered the house, collecting bonds, jewelry and other property- 
worth $3,000, with which they decamped. 

On December 20, 1873, three days prior to the Emmet robbery, the same band of 
masked marauders surprised the watchman at the East New York depot of the Jamaica, 
Woodhaven and Brooklyn Railroad, and, after binding and gagging him, blew open 
the safe, which contained $4,000 in cash. In less than a week after the plundering of 
the Emmet cottage, Mr. Wm. K. Souter, his family and servants, at his house at 
Sailors' Snug Harbor, at West Brighton, Staten Island, were awakened in the dead 
hour of the night to find that they were the prisoners of a masked gang of burglars 
who terrified them with threats of instant death. The thieves were all heavily armed 
and had no trouble in frightening the occupants into submission. 

These depredations created considerable excitement among the residents of the 
suburbs of New York at the time, and nearly all the small villages were banded 
together and vigilance committees formed to look out for the band of masked 
marauders. All the gang were arrested by the police, and with the exception of two or 
three who established alibis, were sentenced to twenty years in State prison. Shang 
Campbell and Kerrigan, alias Dobbs, escaped to Key West, Florida, and were subse- 
quently apprehended there. Campbell was brought back and sent to prison, but Kerrigan, 
who had plenty of money, succeeded in gaining his liberty, through the technicalities of 
the law. Orr (now dead) was next arrested ; then Hurley was made a prisoner on 
August 15, 1874. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to twenty years in State 
prison on October i, 1874, by Judge Tappan, at White Plains, Westchester County, 
N. Y. 

While in Auburn prison in the spring of 1876, and also of 1877, he was foiled by 
the guards in two desperate efforts at escape. He then feigned insanity, and was 
transferred to the asylum attached to Clinton prison. He had not been there long 
before he made another break for liberty, but being detected he was re-examined, 
pronounced cured, and drafted back to Auburn prison. He made several attempts to 
escape after that, and finally, with assistance from the outside, in April, 1882, he cut 
through the prison roof and bid his prison chums and guards a hasty good-by. He 
was re-arrested in New York City on August i, 1882, on the corner of Liberty and 
Washington streets, delivered to the prison authorities on August 2, 1882, and taken 
back to serve his unexpired term of twelve years. 

Hurley's picture is an excellent one, notwithstanding his eyes are closed. It was 
taken in July, 1882. 

89 
FRANK McCOY, alias BIG FRANK. 

BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-seven years old in 1886. Born in Troy, N. Y. Medium build. Cabinet- 
maker by trade. Married. Height, 5 feet 11 54! inches. Weight, 1 76 pounds. Dark-red 



1 62 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

hair, light-gray eyes, full face, sandy complexion, bald on front of head, dimple in point 
of chin. Has letters " F. M. C." in India ink on right fore-arm, a cross and heart on 
left fore-arm. Generally wears long, heavy red whiskers and mustache. 

RECORD. 

Frank McCoy, alias Big Frank, is a famous bank burglar, and a desperate 
criminal. He is one of the men who originated the " butcher-cart business," robbing bank 
messengers and others in the street, and quickly making off with the plunder by jumping 
into a butcher cart or wagon. He was arrested with Jimmy Hope, Ike Marsh, Jim 
Brady, George Bliss, and Tom McCormack, in Wilmington, Del., for an attempt to 
rob the National Bank of Delaware, on November 7, 1873. They were convicted on 
November 25, 1873, and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, one hour in the pillory, 
and forty lashes. McCoy and McCormack made their escape from New Castle jail, 
with tools furnished by Bill Robinson, alias Gopher Bill. McCoy was associated with 
Jimmy Hope in the robbery of the Beneficial Savings Fund and other savings banks 
in Philadelphia, and several other robberies. He is said to have stolen over two million 
dollars during his criminal career. He is well known all over the United States, and is a 
treacherous criminal, as several officers can attest. He owes his nickname, " Big 
Frank," to his stature. He was arrested in June, 1876, near Suffolk, Va., a small town 
between Norfolk and Petersburg, in company of Tom McCormack and Gus Fisher, 
alias Sandford. A lot of burglars' tools was found concealed near the railroad depot 
there, and suspicion pointed to them as the owners. The citizens armed themselves 
and tracked the burglars with bloodhounds to their tent, which they had pitched in a 
dismal swamp near the village. They were arrested, taken to the Suffolk jail, and 
chained to the floor. McCoy was shortly after returned to Delaware prison, from where 
he afterwards escaped. Fisher, alias Sandford, was sent to Oxford, N. J., and was tried 
for a burglary. McCormack managed to regain his liberty through his lawyer, in 
October, 1876. 

McCoy was arrested again in New York City on August 12, 1878, charged with 
robbing C. H. Stone, the cashier of Hale's piano-forte manufactory. The cashier was 
knocked down and robbed at the corner of Thirty-fourth Street and Ninth Avenue, 
New York City, on his return from the West Side Bank, on August 3, 1878. In this 
case McCoy was discharged, as Mr. Stone was unable to identify him. 

McCoy was arrested again in New York City on April 12, 1881, charged with 
robbing Heaney's pawnbroker's establishment, on Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, on March 
8, 1875, of $2,000 worth of jewelry, etc. He was arrested for this robbery in 1879, ^-^^ 
upon an examination before Judge Terry, of Brooklyn, he was discharged. The grand 
jury afterwards indicted him, and he was arrested again as above, and committed to 
Raymond Street jail. He afterwards gave bail, and was released. He was finally 
arrested again in New York City on May 26, 1885, on suspicion of being implicated in 
a conspiracy to rob the Butchers and Drovers' Bank of New York City, in connection 
with one Gustave Kindt, alias French Gus iji), a notorious burglar and toolmaker. 
No case being made out against him, he was delivered to the Sheriff of Wilmington, 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 163 

Del., on November 6, 1885, and taken back to the jail that he had twice escaped from, 
to serve out the remainder of his ten years' sentence. 

McCoy has killed two men during his criminal career, one on the Bowery, New 
York, and another in a saloon in Philadelphia, Pa., some years ago. 

Frank's picture was taken in August, 1878, 



90 

PETER ELLIS, alias BANJO PETE, 

alias Luther, alias Big Pete, alias Peter Emmerson. 

BANK BURGLAR, SNEAK AND HIGHWAYMAN. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-one years old in 1886. Born in New York City. Slim build. Height, 
5 feet 1 1 inches. Weight, 160 pounds. Light complexion, brown hair, stooped shoulders, 
thin face, high cheek bones, dark eyes. Generally wears a brown mustache. 

RECORD. 

Banjo Pete, the name he is best known by (Peter Ellis being his right name), was 
formerly a minstrel, but drifted into crooked channels about eighteen years ago. He 
was considered a good man, and was generally sought for when a job of any 
magnitude was to be done. He was an intimate associate of all the great bank burglars 
in America. 

He was arrested with Abe Coakley in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 28, 1880, charged 
with robbing the Manhattan Bank in New York City, on October 27, 1878. It was 
claimed that Emmerson was the man who carried out the tin boxes from the vault, and 
sorted the bonds, etc. ; that Coakley was the man who wore the whiskers, and dusted 
off the shelves in the bank while Johnny Hope and his father were in the vault with 
Nugent; that Billy Kelly stood guard over the old janitor; and Johnny Dobbs, or 
Kerrigan, and Big John Tracy, who was a friend of Shevelin, the watchman of the 
bank, were supposed to be the men who planned the robbery ; while Old Man Hope 
was the man who did the work. Johnny Hope (19) was convicted, and sentenced to 
twenty years in State prison for this robbery. Kerrigan, alias Johnny Dobbs, was 
arrested while negotiating one of the stolen bonds in Philadelphia, and was turned over 
to the Sheriff of Wethersfield, Conn., who took him back to Wethersfield prison, to 
serve out an unfinished term of seven years. John Nugent was tried and acquitted. 
Patrick Shevlin, the night-watchman, was used to convict the others, and was finally 
discharged. Jack Cannon was also arrested in Philadelphia trying to dispose of some 
of the stolen bonds, and was sentenced to fifteen years there. Old Man Hope (20) 



1 64 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

went to California, and was sentenced to seven years and six months for a burglary- 
there. Pete Emmerson was discharged from the Tombs, in the Manhattan Bank case, 
on October 4, 1880. 

He traveled through the country with John Nugent and Ned Farrell, a 
notorious butcher-cart thief, and was finally arrested in the Hoboken, N. J., Railroad 
depot, on Saturday, July 28, 1883, for an attempt to rob Thos. J. Smith, the cashier of 
the Orange, N. J., National Bank, of a package containing $10,000 in money. Nugent 
and Farrell were arrested also. They pleaded guilty and were sentenced to ten 
years in Trenton State prison, on July 30, 1883. Emmerson stood trial, was convicted,, 
and sentenced to ten years also, on October 30, 1883. 

Emmerson's picture is not a very good one, although recognizable. It was taken 
in 1880. 



91 
JAMES CASEY, alias BIG JIM CASEY. 

BANCO AND PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-eight years old in 1886. Born in United States. Single, No trade. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 200 pounds. Black hair, dark eyes, dark 
complexion ; generally wears a full black beard, turning gray. 

RECORD. 

Big Jim Casey is a well known Bowery (New York) pickpocket and "stall" for 
pickpockets. He was formerly an associate of Poodle Murphy (134), Pretty Jimmie 
(143), Big Dick Morris (141), and all the first-class men. Of late years he cannot be 
relied on, and the clever ones give him the go-by, as he is fond of drink. Lately he 
has turned his hand to banco business, and generally handles the bag of cloth samples.. 
He is now working with Pete Lake (93) and Ed Parmelee, two notorious banco 
steerers. Casey was arrested at Clifton, Canada, with a gang of American pick- 
pockets, during the Marquis of Lome's celebration, and sentenced to three years' 
imprisonment. He has served time in Sing Sing prison, and in the penitentiary on 
Blackwell's Island, and is well known in all the Eastern cities as Big Jim Casey. He 
was arrested again in New York City on January 26, 1884, in company of Poodle 
Murphy (134), Tom Burns, alias Combo (148), Joe Gorman (146), and Nigger Baker 
(195), charged with sneaking a package of Elevated Railroad tickets, valued at $75, 
from a safe in the station at Houston Street and the Bowery, New York. For this 
offense he was sentenced to six months in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, on 
February 26, 1884. (See record of No. 134.) 

His picture is a fair one. 



91 



92 



93 



995 



--'^At^.. 





JAMES CASEY, 

ALIAS BIG JIM CASEY, 

BANCO AND PICKPOCKET, 



CHARLES MASON, 

ALIAS BOSTON CHARLEY. 

PICKPOCKET AND BANCO. 



PETER LAKE, 

ALIAS GRAND CENTRAL PETE, 
BANCO. 



94 



95 



96 




JAMES ALLEN, 

ALIAS POP WHITE and DR. LONG. 

HOTEL AND CONFIDENCE MAN. 



JOSEPH LEWIS, 

ALIAS HUNGRY JOE, 
BANCO. 



WILLIAM JOHNSON, 
PICKPOCKET. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 165 

92 
CHARLES MASON, alias BOSTON CHARLEY. 

PICKPOCKET, BANCO AND STALL. 

DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1886. Heavy build. Height, 5 feet 11 inches. Weight, 

200 pounds. Dark-brown hair, turning gray ; brown eyes, fair complexion. Generally 

wears a heavy, reddish-brown mustache ; rather fine features. A very active man for 

his size. 

RECORD. 

" Boston " Charley's principal occupation is "banco." He has been in several 
jails in the East and West, and has traveled from Maine to California working various 
schemes. In New York he worked with Jimmie Wilson (143) and Shang Campbell (107), 
picking pockets ; also, with Jack Strauss, on the sneak. He worked in the winter of 
1876 in Boston, Mass., with Charlie Love, alias Graves, alias Scanlon, and was in the 
scheme to rob a man named Miller out of $1,200 by the banco game. Charley fell into 
the hands of the police, and Love escaped. He was afterwards implicated in a robbery 
in the Adams House, where Mrs. Warner, of St. Paul, Minn., lost considerable property. 
He then left Boston, and remained away until 1881. During the interval he is credited 
with having served five years in Joliet prison. 

Mason was arrested again in New York City, and sentenced to four years in Sing 
Sing prison on December 20, 1881, by Recorder Smyth, for robbing one John H. 
Lambkin, of Cork, Ireland, out of $1,139, at banco. His time expired, allowing full 
commutation, on May 19, 1885. 

Mason's picture is a good one, taken in 1881. 



93 

PETER LAKE, alias GRAND CENTRAL PETE, 

alias Lane. 

BANCO STEERER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in United States. Stout build. Married. No 

trade. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 165 pounds. Hair black, turning gray; 

dark hazel eyes, ruddy complexion, smooth face generally ; sometimes wears a brown 

mustache. 

RECORD. 

" Grand Central Pete " is one of the most celebrated and persistent banco 
steerers there is in America, " Hungry" Joe possibly excepted. Like all others of his 



1 66 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

class, he has been arrested in almost every city in the Union, but seldom convicted, for 
the reason that as soon as he falls into the hands of the police, his confederates give 
the victim back his money, and he is only too glad to make himself scarce. 

He was arrested on March 9, 1877, in New York City, in company of another 
confidence man named Charles Johnson, better known as " Tip " Farrell, of Chicago, for 
swindling one John Slawson, the superintendent of the Star Silver Mining Company, 
of Idaho Territory, out of $100, at the banco game. Slawson was stopping at the St. 
Nicholas Hotel, and was met by Pete, who had a "sure thing" for him. Lake and 
Farrell pleaded guilty in the Court of General Sessions, and were sentenced to six 
months in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, and fined $100 each, on March 15,. 
1877, by Judge Gildersleeve. 

Pete Lake has been arrested at least fifty times since, but never convicted, for 
reasons above stated. He obtained his nickname through prowling around the Grand 
Central Railroad depot, in New York City. 

Pete's picture is a good one, taken in March, 1877. 



94 

JAMES WHITE, alias POP WHITE, 
alias Allen, alias Doctor Long. 

HOTEL THIEF AND CONFIDENCE MAN. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Seventy years old in 1886. Born in Delaware. Painter by trade. Very slim. 
Single. Height, 5 feet 8^ inches. Weight, about 135 pounds. Gray hair, dark-blue 
eyes, sallow complexion, very wrinkled face. Looks like a well-to-do farmer. 

RECORD. 

Old Pop White, or " Doc " Long, is the oldest criminal in his line in America. 
Over one-third of his life has been spent in State prisons and penitentiaries. He has 
turned his hand to almost everything, from stealing a pair of shoes to fifty thousand 
dollars. He was well known when younger as a clever bank sneak, hotel man and 
confidence worker. He is an old man now, and most of his early companions are dead. 
He worked along the river fronts of New York and Boston for years, with George, 
alias " Kid " Affleck (56), and old " Hod " Bacon, and was arrested time and time again. 
One of their victims, whom they robbed in the Pennsylvania Railroad depot at 
Philadelphia in 1883 of $7,000, died of grief shortly after. 

Old White was discharged from Trenton, N. J., State prison on December 19, 1885, 
after serving a term for grand larceny. He was arrested again in New York City the 
day after for stealing a pair of shoes from a store. He pleaded guilty, and was 
sentenced to five months in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, in the Court of 
Special Sessions, on December 22, 1885. 

Pop White's picture is a good one, taken in July, 1875. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 167 

95 

JOSEPH LEWIS, alias HUNGRY JOE, 

alias Francis J. Alvany, alias Henry F. Post. 

BANCO STEERER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Speculator. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 163 pounds. Brown hair, brown 
eyes, light complexion. Dresses well. Has a beardless face generally. Large nose, 
and heavy scar on his chin. 

RECORD. 

"Hungry Joe," the name he is best-known by, is a very persistent and impudent 
banco steerer. He is a terrible talker — too much so for his own good — and he is well 
known in every city in the United States. Although arrested several times, he has 
never served more than five or ten days in prison at one time. This man has victimized 
more people by the banco game than any other five men in the profession. 

During Oscar Wilde's visit to this country he and " Hungry Joe" were chums for 
about a week. They lunched and dined together in the cafe at the Hotel Brunswick, 
in New York. After a while Joe played the confidence game on Oscar, in which the 
latter, it is said, was fleeced out of $5,000. Joe was not given the money, but a check 
drawn on the Second National Bank of New York City. Oscar, realizing that he had 
been swindled, stopped the payment of the check at the bank. 

Joe was arrested in Detroit, Mich., in 1880, for shooting Billy Flynn, a notorious 
character, but was discharged on the ground of self-defense. He was finally arrested 
in New York City on May 27, 1885, when he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced 
to four years in State prison by Recorder Smyth, for robbing at banco one Joseph 
Ramsden, an English tourist, who was stopping at the Metropolitan Hotel, in New 
York City, out of five ten-pound notes, valued at about $250. The following is a very 
interesting account, clipped from one of the New York papers of May 22, 1885, of the 
manner in which Joe victimized Mr. Ramsden : 

Among the passengers on board the steamship Gallia, which arrived from Liverpool on Monday last, 
(May 25, 1885,) was an elderly English gentleman of fine appearance but somewhat in ill-health. His 
name is Joseph Ramsden, a merchant of Manchester. He came to this country with a view to recuperating 
his health. Mr. Ramsden stopped at one of the first-class hotels uptown, and commenced to admire the 
beauties and attractions of the metropolis. Tuesday afternoon he strolled downtown on Broadway. 
Reaching the Metropolitan Hotel, Mr. Ramsden was sauntering leisurely along when he was surprised by a 
well-dressed stranger familiarly addressing him with: 

" Why, how do you do, Mr. Ramsden ?" 



1 68 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

The latter expressed his inability to recognize the stranger, but the affable young man soon put the 
old gentleman at ease by adding: 

" Oh, you don't know me; I forgot. But I know you from hearsay. My name is Post — Henry F. 
Post. You came over in my uncle's steamer yesterday. Capt. Murphy, of the Gallia, is my uncle, and 
since his return has been stopping at my father's residence. He has spoken of you to us. Indeed, he has 
said so much about you and of your shattered health that it seemed to me I knew you a long time. I could 
not help recognizing you in a thousand from my uncle's description of you." 

Mr. Ramsden had had a very pleasant voyage on the Gallia, during which Capt. Murphy and he had 
become very friendly, and thus he was not surprised that the gallant skipper should speak of him. " Mr. 
Post " walked arm-in-arm with his uncle's English friend, chatting pleasantly and pointing out prominent 
business houses, until they reached Grand Street. 

" I am in business in Baltimore — in ladies' underwear and white goods," said Mr. Post, " and have 
been home laying in a stock of goods. I should much like to remain a day or two longer and show you 
around, but I am sorry that I must return to Baltimore this evening. In fact, I am on my way now to get 
my ticket and my valise is already in the ticket office." 

It needed but a few words to induce the elderly gentleman to accompany Post to " the office," in 
Grand Street, and the two soon entered a room on that street, west of Broadway. There the young man 
bought a railroad ticket of a man behind a counter. 

"And now my valise," added Post. 

Throwing the bag on the counter, the young man opened it, saying, " Here are some muslins that 
can't be duplicated in England," and exhibited to the old gentleman some samples of that fabric. Near 
the bottom of the bag he accidentally came upon a pack of playing cards, seizing which, he exclaimed: 

" Ah, this reminds me. Don't you know that last night some fellows got me into a place on the 
Bowery and skinned me out of $400 by a card-trick in which they used only three cards ? But I've got on 
to the game and know how it is done. They can't do me any more." 

At that moment a man, showily dressed, emerged from a back room and said; "I'll bet you fio you 
can't do it." 

" All right, put up your money," responded Joe. 

The cards were shuffled by the deft hand of the stranger, and Joe was told to pick up the ace. He 
picked up a Jack and lost. He lost a second time, and offered to repeat it, but the stranger said, " I don't 
believe you've got any more money." 

" Well, but my friend here (pointing to Mr. Ramsden) has." 

"I don't believe he has," sneeringly retorted the stranger. 

" Oh, yes I have," interrupted the venerable Englishman, at the same time pulling a roll of ten crisp 
five-pound notes from his inside vest pocket and holding them to the gaze of the others. 

The temptation was too great for Hungry Joe. He so far forgot himself and his uncle's friendship 
for the Manchester merchant that he grabbed the roll from Ramsden's hand. The latter tightened his 
grasp on the notes, but Joe violently thrust the old man backwards, and, getting possession of the money, 
ran out of the place, followed by his confederates. 

Mr. Ramsden notified Inspector Byrnes that evening, giving an accurate description of " Capt. Mur- 
phy's nephew," which resulted in Hungry Joe's arrest. Joe was sitting in the basement of the house 
quietly smoking a cigar and resting his slippered feet on a chair. He was in his shirt sleeves. He tried to 
bluff off the Inspector, as is his custom, but finding it useless he donned his coat and boots and accom- 
panied the Inspector to headquarters. 

Last night Mr. Ramsden was summoned to headquarters, where he was confronted in the Inspector's 
room by Hungry Joe and eight other men. 

" There is the man," quickly said Mr. Ramsden. 

" I never saw you before, sir," replied Joe. 

"You scoundrel," excitedly exclaimed Mr. Ramsden, "you are the fellow that robbed me of my 
money." 

Joe's picture, though somewhat drawn up, is recognizable. It was taken in 
December, 1878. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 169 

96 
WILLIAM J. JOHNSON, alias JOSEPH W. HARRIS. 

PICKPOCKET AND BOARDING-HOUSE THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-nine years old in 1886. Born in United States. Single. Printer. Well 
built. Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Brown hair, brown eyes, dark 
complexion ; generally wears a brown mustache. Has scar over left eye ; dot of India 
ink on left hand. Claims to have been born in Philadelphia. 

RECORD. 

Johnson, or Harris, is a clever pickpocket and boarding-house thief. He is well 
known in New York and Boston, Mass., and other cities, and is an associate of Frank 
Auburn, alias Austin (46), with whom he has been working in several of the Eastern 
cities. 

He was arrested in Boston, Mass., on April 28, 1884, in company of Auburn, 
charged with picking pockets in the churches in that city, tried, convicted, and 
sentenced to three years in State prison at Concord, Mass., on May 16, 1884. 

His sentence will expire on December 23, 1886. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in April, 1884. 



97 
COL. ALEXANDER C. BRANSCOM. 

FORGER AND SWINDLER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-four years old in 1886. Born in Virginia. Medium build. Single. Claims 

to be a book publisher. Height, 6 feet. Weight, 178 pounds. Medium brown hair, 

dark gray eyes, ruddy complexion. Good education ; converses well. Right arm off 

at the elbow. 

RECORD. 

CoL. Branscom is an expert forger and swindler. He was sentenced to three 
years and six months in State prison in August, 1880, in New York City, for forging 
Florida bonds. His expertness with the pen is a marvel, in view of his being obliged 
to write with his left hand, his right arm having been cut off at the elbow. His 
correspondence while conducting his swindling operations, large as it has been, was 
entirely written by himself, and does equal credit to his powers of invention and to his 
skillful penmanship. Not a detail calculated to convey confidence was lacking in any 
of his transactions. 



lyo PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

He was arrested again in New York City on November 2, 1884. During August of 
that year he made several contracts with business men in New York to publish and 
advertise in an official guide to the New Orleans Exposition ; and a highly decorated 
pamphlet, " The Diversified Industries of the South." He contracted with Conroy 
Brothers, paper dealers, of No. 33 Beekman Street, New York City, on August 14, 
1884, for $7,000 worth of white paper for his publications, and gave them a note for 
$7,000, purported to be indorsed by Colonel Edward Richardson, the millionaire 
president of the Mississippi Mills, at Wesson, Miss., and at that time president of the 
World's Exposition at New Orleans. 

Branscom uttered about $40,000 worth of similar notes in New York, and when 
arrested he confessed that he had forged endorsements to $52,000 more, and had 
intended to issue about $110,000 worth in all. If he had succeeded, he said, he would 
have carried his publications through and cleared $50,000. In addition to the money 
collected by the notes, Branscom also got orders for $6,000 worth of advertisements in 
the blank space of his two books, and he planned to collect $30,000 more from the 
same source. His cash collected from all sources in this transaction enabled him to 
deposit $14,000 in the Shoe and Leather Bank of New York, but two-thirds of this 
amount he subsequently drew out. 

Branscom was convicted of the forgery of one note for $7,000, and was sentenced 
to ten years in State prison in the Court of General Sessions, New York, on March 
14, 1885, by Recorder Smyth. 

Branscom's picture is a good one, taken in November, 1884. 



98 
FRANKLIN J. MOSES, alias EX-GOV. MOSES. 

SWINDLER BY BOGUS CHECKS. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-four years old in 1886. Born in South Carolina. Lawyer. Married. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 8^ inches. Weight, 130 pounds. Dark hair, turning gray; 
blue eyes, sallow complexion, large Roman nose ; generally wears a heavy mustache, 
quite gray. Dresses fairly. Good talker. 

RECORD. 

Ex-GovERNOR MosES, of South Carolina, graduated from Columbia College, and 
served as private secretary to the Governor of South Carolina for two years. At the 
close of the war of the Rebellion he was one of the first of any that were conspicuous 
in the State to submit to the Reconstruction Act ; and he was, after serving as Speaker 
of the House two years, made Governor, holding that office for two years. His father, 
an estimable man, was at one time Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South 
Carolina. Shortly after his term of office expired, Moses started in victimizing friend 



97 



98 



99 




ALEXANDER 0. BRAN8C0M, 
FORGER AND CONFIDENCE MAN. 



FRANKLIN J. MOSES, 

EX. GOV. MOSES, 

SWINDLER. 



DAy/D SWAIN, 
CONFIDENCE. 



100 



lOi 



102 






\^^> 




UpTf Vl^^^;ft:,»>. 






W^'' 


-^^Sr-f ?' • 




:,l. . ■: 




EDWARD LILLIE, 

ALIAS WATSON. 

CONFIDENCE. 



JOHN CANNON, 

ALIAS OLD JACK, 

HOTEL THIEF. 



EDWARD LYMAN, 

PICKPOCKET AND CONFIDENCE MAN 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 171 

and foe alike. An account of all his swindling transactions would fill many pages. 
Below will be found a few of his many exploits. 

He was first arrested in New York City, and delivered to the South Carolina 
authorities on September 17, 1878, for making and uttering a forged note in South 
Carolina for $316. When he arrived there he was placed on parole, and allowed to 
escape. He was arrested again in New York City on October 3, 1881, for defrauding 
Major William L. Hall out of $25. For this he was sentenced to six months in the 
penitentiary on Blackwell's Island. He was arrested again in Chicago, III, on July 27, 
1884, for false pretenses, but the case was settled up. He was arrested again in 
Detroit, Mich., on October 12, 1884, for swindling the Rev. Dr. Rexford, under the 
name of Thomas May, and sent to jail for three months. He was again arrested in 
Detroit, upon the expiration of his three months' sentence, on January 27, 1885, by 
Boston officers, for swindling Colonel T. W. Higginson, of Cambridge, out of $34, 
under false pretenses. He was brought to East Cambridge, Mass., and pleaded guilty 
in the Superior Criminal Court there on February 11, 1885, and was sentenced to six 
months in the House of Correction. He was brought from the House of Correction 
on May 29, 1885, on a writ, and arraigned before Judge Aldrich, of the Superior Criminal 
Court, and committed for trial for swindling, in February, 1884, Mr. Fred. Ames out of 
$40; ex-Mayor Cobb, $40; Dr. Bowditch, $20; Dr. Henry O. Marcy, $20; and Mr. 
Williams, a bookseller, $20. Moses pleaded guilty again to these complaints on 
September 25, 1885. He was finally sentenced to three years in the House of 
Correction on October i, 1885, by Judge Aldrich. His sentence will expire, allowing 
him full commutation time, on May 10, 1888. When the ex-governor was arraigned 
for sentence in Boston, his counsel, John B. Goodrich, Esq., said that he wished to 
state to the court the remarkable circumstances of the case, not for the purpose of 
extenuation, but because of the qualities of the man, and consider if something could 
not be done to restore him to his former place in the community. Judge Aldrich said : 

" If I were sitting in another place than upon the bench, I should think, after 
listening to the remarks of the counsel for the defense, that I was listening to a eulogy 
of some great and good man." The judge, continuing, said he would rather see a 
member of the bar starve before he would commit a State prison offense. He himself 
would suffer cold all day, sweep the streets, before he would go into a gentleman's 
house and commit such offenses as those charged. The defense made for the prisoner 
the judge characterized as trivial, and said it was time such frauds were stopped. He 
did not see what good it would do to send him to any of the reformatory institutions. 
He felt that a severe sentence ought to be imposed upon the prisoner, and therefore 
sentenced him to be imprisoned in the State prison for three years. 

Moses' picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1882. 



172 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

99 
DAVID SWAIN, alias OLD DAVE. 

CONFIDENCE MAN. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in New York City. Stout build. Height, 
5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Light brown hair, blue eyes. Ruddy com- 
plexion. Wears full sandy beard and mustache. Married. Scar on forehead over 
left eye. Part of an anchor in India ink on right fore-arm. 

RECORD. 

Swain is one of the sharpest, meanest, and most dangerous confidence men in the 
business. He has no favorites, and would rob a friend or a poor emigrant as soon as a 
party with means. He may be found around railroad depots or steamboat landings, 
and is well known in all the Eastern cities, especially Boston, Mass., where, it is said, 
he has a mortgage on the Eastern Railroad depot. 

Swain was arrested in New York City on July 17, 1873, for grand larceny from one 
Edward Steinhofer, of Brooklyn. He was committed to the Tombs prison on July 18, 
1873, but was shortly afterwards delivered over to the Albany, N. Y., police authorities, 
and taken there upon an old charge. He was convicted and sentenced to three years 
in the Albany Penitentiary, at the Court of Quarter Sessions, in Albany, on September 
20, 1873. His time expired in March, 1876. 

Swain passed considerable of his time in and around Boston, Mass., when out of 
prison, and has fleeced many a poor victim there. In August, 1883, he robbed two 
poor Nova Scotians, man and wife, out of $150 in gold, all the money they had saved 
for years. 

He was finally arrested in Boston, Mass., on December 12, 1884, for robbing the 
Nova Scotians, whose name was Taylor. He lay in jail there until May 23, 1885, 
when he was brought to court, where he pleaded guilty to the charge, and was sentenced 
to two years in the House of Correction. 

Swain has been working these last few years with George Gifford, who was arrested 
in Brooklyn, N. Y., on March 15, 1886, for swindling one John Reilly by the confidence 
game, and sentenced to four years in the Kings County Penitentiary on April 30, 1886. 
He has also served a term in Boston, Mass., for the same offense. Young Gifford is 
the son of Harry Gifford, a very clever old confidence man, who died a short time ago. 

Swain's picture is a good one, taken in 1881. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 173 

100 
EDWARD LILLIE, alias HENRY A. WATSON. 

CONFIDENCE MAN, FORGER, AND BOARDING-HOUSE THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Sixty-five years old in 1886. Born in United States. Sailmaker. Married. Slim 
build. Height, 6 feet i inch. Weight, 166 pounds. Black hair, turning quite gray; 
gray eyes. Wears a gray chin whisker. Has a sloop and owl in India ink on right 
arm ; spots of ink on left arm. 

RECORD. 

Ed. Lillie is one of the most notorious confidence operators in America. He does 
not confine himself to that particular branch of the business, as he has done service 
for forgery and robbing boarding-houses. He is known in a number of the large cities 
of the United States and Canada, and is considered a very clever man. 

He was arrested in New York City on November 25, 1876, under the name of 
James H. Potter, charged with purchasing from George C. Flint, of West Fourteenth 
Street, New York City, $600 worth of furniture, and giving him in payment therefor a 
worthless check for $750 on the National Bank of Newburg, N. Y. The bank's certifi- 
cation on the check was forged, and he received $150 in change. In this case Lillie 
pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to two years and six months in State prison, on 
February 2, 1877, by Judge Gildersleeve. He was arrested again in New York City on 
July 28, 1879, ii^ company of one John Hill, alias Dave Mooney (173), charged by Mrs. 
Lydell, who kept a boarding-houSe at No. 46 South Washington Square, with entering 
the room of one of her boarders and stealing $575 in money, three watches, two chains, 
and a locket, altogether valued at $1,000. In this case he was discharged for lack of 
evidence. 

Lillie was arrested again on board of a Galveston steamer, lying at the dock in 
New York City, on January g, 1881, charged with obtaining $50 from Miguel S. 
Thimon, a Texan, by the confidence game. In this case Lillie was sentenced to two 
years and six months in State prison, on January 12, 1881, by Judge Cowing. He was 
again arrested plying his vocation along the river front in New York, in June, 1884, 
and sentenced to six months in the penitentiary, charged with vagrancy. He obtained 
a writ, and was discharged by Judge Lawrence, of the Supreme Court, on June 

13. 1884. 

He fell into the hands of the police again in New York City, on February 27, 1885, 
charged by Benjamin Freer, of Gardiner, Ulster County, N. Y., with swindling him out 
of $250 in money. One David Johnson, of Catasauqua, Pa., also charged him with 
swindling him out of 102 English sovereigns on January 2, 1885, on board of an Anchor 
Line steamer, while lying at the dock in New York City. Johnson was on his way to 
Europe. Lillie was tried for swindHng Johnson, and sentenced to five years in State 
prison on March 9, 1885, by Recorder Smyth, in the Court of General Sessions. 

Lillie's picture is an excellent one, taken in November, 1876. 



174 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

101 

JOHN CANNON, alias JACK CANNON, 

alias Davis, alias Stewart, alias Bartlett. 
HOTEL THIEF AND SAFE BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-seven years old in 1886. A Pennsylvania Dutchman. Married. No trade. 
Height, 5 feet 5^^ inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Dark brown hair, inclined to curl in 
front of his ears ; large, light gray eyes, left eye watery ; large nose ; very heavy brown 
beard and mustache. Small scar near end of nose. Claims to be an American-born 
Irishman. Can fix himself up to look like a " Sheeny." 

RECORD. 

Jack Cannon is one of the most widely-known and dangerous thieves in America. 
He was arrested in New Orleans, La., on March 10, 1886, in company of Thomas 
White, alias Montreal Tom, and George Wilson, alias " The Peoria Kid," charged with 
robbing one Effie Hankins, of Chicago, of $8,000 worth of diamonds at the house of 
May Banker, on Union Street that city the night previous. 

The following is a very interesting account published in one of the papers of the 
arrest of Cannon and his associates in New Orleans : 

A full and complete history of this man's adventures would fill a volume with 
thrilling escapes, desperate undertakings, and successful burglaries and robberies. 

If Cannon was not born in the city of New Orleans he was raised here, and up to 
a few years ago had a brother engaged in mercantile pursuits here. His real name is 
said to be Hannon, and he formerly resided on Dryades, between Girod and Julia 
streets. He attended the St. Joseph's School, on Common Street, and his first step in 
crime was made in this city. 

Of his earlier exploits but little is known to the detectives, as they were com- 
paratively trifling robberies or larcenies, and either escaped the memory of one of the 
oldest detectives in the city, or were of no Import, and hence never came to his 
knowledge. 

Detectives Gaster and Cain had been looking for Cannon for some time past 
and had been warned to move cautiously when arresting him as he would shoot 
"at the drop of a hat." On the morning of the arrest, March 11, 1886, when 
they espied Cannon in front of the St. Charles Hotel with Roberts, alias Tommy 
White, and Wilson, they accosted him and requested his presence at the office of the 
Chief of Police. Cannon was at first disinclined to go quietly and made several 
suspicious movements with his hand to his hip pocket. Cain was watching him 
closely while Gaster was eloquently arguing and pleading with Cannon and his two 
friends as to the propriety of going along quietly. Cannon hesitated a while, and 



PROFESSIONAL CEIMINALS OF AMERICA. 175 

turning to Gaster informed him that he had doubtless made a mistake, as he was a 
gentleman and was stopping at the Hotel Royal. Gaster did not dispute this, especially 
as Cannon exhibited the key of his room, but Cannon could not be convinced that he 
ought to go to the Chief's office. 

Fearing doubtless that his refusal would excite still more suspicion. Cannon asked 
who was Chief of Police. Gaster replied that the Chief was sick and that his secretary 
was acting in his stead. This satisfied Cannon, who became assured that the secretary 
would not know him, and the three prisoners and the two detectives arrived safely at 
the Chief's office. 

The first man they met in the office was Captain Malone, and Cannon was visibly 
agitated and sought to turn his head. The Captain eyed him keenly a few moments 
and said : " I know your face, but can't place you just now." He sat looking at Cannon 
a few moments and then recognized him, and called him by name. 

Cannon denied his name, said that he was named Collins, and had never been 
known as Cannon. The Captain then entered into conversation with him, and recalled 
many names of thieves and suspicious characters, now dead, but who had been known 
to Cannon some fifteen or twenty years ago. Cannon became interested, and com- 
menced asking questions of others. 

Captain Malone informed Cannon that his picture was in the "gallery," but 
this Cannon would not believe. He said that no picture of himself was extant. 
The Captain told him that some nineteen or twenty years ago, whilst Cannon was 
rooming on Toulouse, between Dauphine and Burgundy streets, his room had been 
searched for burglars' tools and plunder, and the officers had then found a full length 
photograph of him in the room and had carried it away with them. This picture had 
been placed in a conspicuous position in the gallery, and all during the political troubles 
and changes had remained there and was there then. This was a disagreeable surprise 
to Cannon, and he desired to see the picture, but this request was not granted and the 
trio were locked up. 

Roberts was conducted to Clarke's gallery, where his picture was taken, and when 
the three prisoners were brought to the First Recorder's Court, the detectives concluded 
to have a picture of Cannon taken. When they entered the dock they informed 
Cannon of what they intended to do. Cannon became greatly excited, and, pulling off 
his coat, declared that he would die before they should take his " mug." His picture 
was not in any collection in the United States, he said, and it shouldn't be taken in 
New Orleans. 

"Who ordered this?" asked Cannon. 

" The Chief of Police," said the detectives. 

Cannon thereupon directed his wrath against Captain Malone and hurled invectives 
on his head. " I am sorry I didn't kill him years ago," said the burglar. " I had the 
chance then and was laying for him. Oh, I know well where he lives— down on 
Dauphine Street, near Esplanade. I piped him off one night, and was hid near his 
house. I had a gun drawn on him, and was about to shoot, but at the last moment I 
relented, and Malone entered his house in safety, and unconscious of the peril he had 
been in. I'm very sorry now I didn't finish the job I started out to do." 



176 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

After having vented his spleen in words, Cannon was again informed that his 
picture was to be taken. 

" There is no law for it," he said ; " you will have to take my picture after I'm dead, 
if you want it." 

The detective tried coaxing, but Cannon was obdurate, and turning to Roberts, 
asked his advice. 

Roberts replied, " I haven't anything to do with it ; it's your ' mug,' not mine," 

Finding Cannon very stubborn, the officers informed Recorder Davey of what they 
wanted, and when the prisoners were arraigned. Judge Davey told Cannon that the 
police were very anxious to secure his photograph, and that he had better submit 
quietly. 

After being remanded the detective entered the dock and proceeded to place 
handcuffs on Cannon's wrists. He resisted, and again becoming excited, cursed 
everybody connected with the police. He said that he could have escaped from the 
parish prison that morning had he been able to run, and regretted not having made the 
attempt anyhow. 

Cannon was securely handcuffed, and was then marched down to Clarke's Gallery, 
on Canal Street. Four detectives escorted him, and in due time he arrived there, and 
was placed in a chair in front of the camera. The operator had been informed that 
he would encounter considerable difficulty in catching Cannon, and he therefore moved 
with great caution. Before Cannon knew that he was ready the operator quickly 
removed the cover, and as quickly replaced it, securing a good likeness by the instan- 
taneous process. He then said to Cannon : 

" Are you ready now ?" 

" Yes," replied the latter, and screwing up one corner of his mouth, shutting one 
eye, and distorting his features, he said, " Go ahead." 

The appearance of the man's face was most ludicrous, and the operator and 
detectives burst into a laugh. They enjoyed it the more as they had already obtained 
what they were after, and the result of it all was an excellent likeness of Cannon, the 
noted burglar and desperado — the only one in existence, as far as known. (See No. loi.) 

Cannon appeared to be very despondent when he ascertained that he had been 
beaten at every point, and remarked, "Well, I guess you'll do me up this time." 

He became communicative later, and spoke of old times in this city, and of himself. 

" I never robbed a poor man in my life," he said, " and haven't turned a trick in 
New Orleans this winter." He had no money, but said he had plenty of friends to 
help him in case money could save him. He did not appear to be at all worried about 
going to Baton Rouge, as he believed he could make his escape either here or there. 
He spoke of the late detective Bobbie Harris, who was killed by the late chief of aids, 
Thomas Devereux. He told Gaster and Cain that he was with Harris when he broke 
his back. He said that Harris fell into a well near Vicksburg, Miss., while seeking to 
escape with him, and thus Injured his spinal column, making him a cripple for life. 

Cannon has been the companion and pal of the most noted safe-blowers, bank- 
robbers and cracksmen in this country, and is himself classed as one of the most expert 
hotel thieves on this continent. New Orleans, it would appear, has been the home 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 177 

and the scene of the debut of some of the most skillful and notorious burglars. First 
on the list of these is Billy Forrester (see No. 76), who is now in Massachusetts. He 
is a native of Lafourche, La., and was the leader of the gang who broke into Scooler's 
jewelry store, on Canal, near Camp Street, at the time being associated with Daigo 
Frank and Dave Cummings. (See No. 50.) 

Cannon, as has already been stated in the Picayune, jumped his bonds in New 
Orleans in the Lilienthal robbery, which was committed on April, 11, 1876. 
His bondsman then was George Foster, proprietor of a restaurant and keeper of a 
fence on Toulouse Street, who has since died. Foster was a well known character and 
harborer of thieves in his day, and when the Lilienthal robbery was committed Cannon 
was lodging there. When Cannon left the city and his bondsman in the lurch descrip- 
tions of him were sent far and wide around the country, and he was compelled to remain 
very quiet. Captain Malone's untiring efforts are what aroused Cannon's animosity, and 
considering him as a relentless enemy, he determined to rid himself of him. 

One day the Captain received a letter telling him that if he would meet the 
writer at the corner of Broad and Canal streets after dark on an appointed night, he 
would receive valuable information in regard to a gang of thieves. The Captain sus- 
pected something wrong, as the place appointed was in a very quiet and isolated part 
of the city, but he exhibited the letter to the then Chief of Police, Gen. A. S. Badger, 
who coincided with him in his suspicions. Determined, however, to see the matter 
through, the Captain took two detectives with him, and proceeded to the appointed 
place at the appointed time. No one was in sight except a policeman in uniform, 
who was on the sidewalk, and on the approach of the detectives he moved leisurely 
away. The detectives concealed themselves, and Malone waited patiently, but 
no one came except one of the mounted policemen, who had been ordered to proceed 
to the place and remain in the vicinity until ordered away by Captain Malone. 
After remaining long after the time specified the officers returned to headquarters, 
and then the Captain sought to ascertain the name of the officer who was on 
foot at the place. To his surprise he found that no policeman was on duty in that 
neighborhood except mounted men, hence the man they saw was a bogus policeman, 
and doubtless a pal of the pretended informer, or the writer of the letter himself, 
the Captain kept this letter, and still has it in his possession, and when Cannon's 
remark was repeated to him he at once came to the conclusion that Cannon was either 
the author of it or had caused it to be written, and that it was part of a plot the object 
of which was to put him out of the way. 

Cannon's pal on the occasion of the Lilienthal robbery was John Watson, who 
escaped from the First Precinct Station by making a skeleton key out of the handle of 
a waterpail. He opened the lock of his cell door by means of this, and then opened a 
door in the rear wall of the station opening into the alleyway on the east side of what 
was then the barroom known as the Marble Hall. The police station and headquarters 
were then located where Soule's Commercial College now is, and Watson, after 
opening the rear door, walked out to Lafayette, near Carondelet Street, where he broke 
into a run. He was recaptured out on Claiborne Street, having run into the arms of 
the Maria driver, George Bernard, who was subsequently killed by his head striking 



178 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

the arch over the gateway through which the Maria entered and came out of the 
workhouse. 

Bernard was just going to answer roll-call when Watson ran into his arms, and he 
held him fast and brought him back to the Central Station. Watson subsequently 
again escaped, and made his way North, and from thence to England. 

About a year ago a very large amount of diamonds and jewelry were stolen in 
England, and cuts and descriptions of the gems were sent to all parts of the world. 
The robbery became known as the Hatton Garden robbery, and the Scotland Yard 
detectives were sent all over the civilized world to recover the diamonds and capture 
the thieves. In Paris Watson and his wife were captured and convicted of the robbery, 
and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. 

Cannon, some time after the Lilienthal robbery, left New Orleans, and kept away 
for a number of years. He established his headquarters in Philadelphia, where he was 
known as John Bartlett. He visited the South every winter, but up to two or three 
years ago, as far as known, kept away from New Orleans. 

When arrested for the Lilienthal robbery he presented a rough and uncouth 
appearance, more like that of a laboring man than of a " flash cove," and when Captain 
Malone first laid eyes on him after his capture in the gutter under the street-crossing 
at the corner of Chartres and Bienville streets, he was surprised that such a looking 
man should be capable of so skillful a piece of work as opening the combination of 
Lilienthal's safe, and it was not until some days afterward that Cannon's ability to do 
such work became apparent. He was then a young, strapping fellow ; now he is 
a middle-aged, comparatively respectable-looking man, with a full chin beard and 
mustache. 

A few among the many robberies attributed to Cannon, or in which he was 
implicated, are the following : 

Hotel robbery at Jacksonville, Fla., in which a quantity of diamonds, watches and 
jewelry were stolen. 

Robbery of a store at Brownsville, Texas. 

Robbery of Schmidt's store in Houston, Texas. 

Safe blowing at J. F. Meyer's store at Houston, Texas. 

Safe blowing at Macatus' store, in the same place. 

Jewelry robbery at Galveston, Texas. 

Hotel robbery at Hotel Royal in New Orleans, also the robbery at the Gregg 
House in April, 1885 ; and many others. 

Efforts were made to hold Cannon for the Lilienthal robbery. Of the ofificers who 
made the arrest at the time only two are living. Sergeant — afterwards Captain — 
James Gibney, promoted for this very arrest, died of consumption in 1873. Corporal — 
afterwards Sergeant — Kennedy was killed on September 14, 1874. Officer Coffee was 
killed by the notorious negro garroter and robber, Al Gossett, April 19, 1883. 

Officer Diehl is the proprietor of a grocery store at the corner of Miro and 
Dumaine streets, and with Officer Duvigneaud, who is at present engaged in the fruit 
business on Canal Street, is still alive. Cannon was captured with his portion of the 
booty on his person, and the last two mentioned ofificers were present at the time. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 179 

Cannon now claims Detroit, Mich., as his home, and when he registered his name 
in the Gregg House, in New Orleans, in April last, he booked himself as J. H. Stewart, 
Detroit, Mich. 

Roberts denied that he was the Tommy White who escaped from the penitentiary 
at Clarksville, Tenn., and stated his willingness to return there without the formality of 
a requisition if the authorities would take him there and then release him if it was 
proven that he was not the man. 

The picture of Roberts was identified, and that at once by the proprietress of the 
boarding-house. No. 6 St. Peter Street, New Orleans, adjoining the store of Mr. 
Piccaluga. She stated that during the month of December, 1885, the original of the 
picture rented the room on the first floor front for himself and a companion. On or 
about Christmas the store of Mr. Piccaluga was entered by burglars, who broke open 
the windows on the gallery on the same story occupied by her lodger. The safe was 
blown open and $60 in money stolen. Fortunately there was no more money than that 
amount in the safe that night, but several nights previously there had been large 
amounts in the safe. The burglars on this occasion were doubtless Roberts and 
Cannon. As regards Roberts' identity as Tommy White, alias " Curly Tommy," the 
Chief of Police of Chicago said he was wanted in Clarksville, and was only too anxious 
to return thither in order to escape prosecution and punishment in New Orleans. 

Cannon appeared to rely greatly on the judgment and advice of Roberts, and the 
detectives infer from this that Roberts was the brain of the firm and Cannon the skill 
and muscle to carry out plans conceived by Roberts. 

Wilson, the younger of the three, was not known at that time to the police, although 
they claim for him the alias of the " Peoria Kid," and give him the reputation of being a 
first-class pickpocket. Cannon said to Roberts one day : " If we hadn't been with the 
* Kid ' we would have been all right." 

A telegram was received in New Orleans on March 22, 1886, from Peoria, 111., 
identifying the picture of Wilson sent thither as that of George Stacey, alias H. B. 
Wilson, a former pupil of Joe Parish's, and a most expert pickpocket and "pennyweight 
man." The latter is the name applied to thieves who enter jewelry stores, and, whilst 
pretending to make purchases, unobservedly secrete diamonds and other valuables 
about their persons. 

The three accused were brought before Recorder Davey to be arraigned for the 
Hankins diamond robbery, which was committed on Wednesday morning, March 10, 
1886. 

Cannon appeared to be greatly worried, and his sinister light blue eyes roamed 
unceasingly around the room. He was very nervous and appeared to dread recognition 
from every person whom he detected eyeing him closely. His brown beard and 
mustache gave his face quite a respectable appearance, and had it not been for his 
restlessness a casual observer would most likely have taken him to be a lawyer employed 
to defend the other two. 

The first and only witness introduced was Mr. Charles Bush. The accused were 
asked to stand up, and the witness was asked if he could identify any of them. He 
replied that he had seen Cannon before, but did not recollect ever having seen the other 



i8o PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

two — Roberts and Wilson. As regards the recovery of the Hankins diamonds, and 
the alleged payment of a reward or a compromise to recover the jewels, he knew 
nothing. 

Wilson, alias the Peoria Kid, and Tom White were discharged in this case on 
March 23, 1886. They immediately left town, but were arrested again in April, in 
Montgomery, Ala., while attempting to pawn some stolen property. 

The last arrest of White and Wilson was made by the Chief of Police of 
Montgomery, Ala., and when searched a package of burglars' tools and a pawn ticket 
for a gold watch were found in their possession. Subsequently it was ascertained that 
the watch was the property of Mr. H. Jackson, of Selma, Ala., who, while on a visit to 
New Orleans and a guest at the Hotel Royal, had been robbed of his gold watch and 
about seventy-five dollars in money. This was the night prior to the arrest of John 
Cannon and the two above mentioned parties, March 9, 1886. 

It was subsequently ascertained that Cannon, who had a room in the Hotel Royal, 
had invited White, alias Roberts, to share his bed with him, and that night the rooms 
of several of the boarders, among them Mr. Jackson's, were entered and robbed. 

Cannon was an inmate of the parish prison, New Orleans, being held to answer a 
charge of assault and battery, until May 15, 1886, when he was convicted and sentenced 
to two years at hard labor. He was taken to Baton Rouge prison on June 17, 1886, 
On their arrival at Montgomery White and Wilson disposed of their stolen property,, 
and were arrested. 

The following is some of Miss Hankins's evidence relative to the loss of her 
diamonds. She said : 

" I am from Chicago. I reside in this city at the Hotel Victor. On the night of the 9th or morning of 
the loth March, 1886, 1 was at No. 68 Union Street. I am the person who was robbed. It was about 4 o'clock 
in the morning when the three men entered my room. A portion of the jewelry was on my arms and the 
balance on my dresser. My door was locked. The door was opened by a party in the room for the purpose 
of getting a glass of water. As the door opened a man put a revolver to his head and three men rushed in. 
I had retired. I retired that night about i o'clock. It was the front room on the first floor. It was not 
my first night in the room. I had occupied it several nights. I was May Banker's guest. I saw May 
Banker that night. She was in my room. She left me about 12 o'clock. I had not disrobed. She occu- 
pied a room at the head of the stairs on the floor above. 

" I had a diamond pin, a pair of earrings, four bracelets, watch and finger rings. Three of the brace- 
lets were worth about $1,000 each, the fourth one about $7,000. They were on my wrists. The pin and 
earrings were under my pillow. The earrings were worth about f 8,000, the pin about $5,000. My other 
jewelry was in my trunk. 

"When the men entered they said: 'We won't harm you, but keep quiet.' One of them took me by 
the throat and placed a revolver at my head. They then took the jewelry. I had a revolver under my 
pillow. I always have it there. 'They broke open a desk in the room. My door was open during all this. 
I did not go to the ball. Nobody persuaded me not to go. It would be hard to identify the thieves, as 
they wore handkerchiefs over their faces. 

" The prisoners do not look like the men. They are not stout enough." [Pointing to Cannon wit- 
ness said:] " He is about the height of one of the men. Could not say if they had beards. I have gotten 
the property back — three or four days after it was stolen. On the advice of my attorney I shipped it away. 

" The thieves were in my room twenty or twenty-five minutes. When they left they locked the door 
on the outside. I don't know how they got out. I did not hear their footsteps, as they made no noise. I 
saw Miss Banker about an hour after the robbery; she expressed sympathy for the loss. Miss Banker told 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. i8l 

me she was awake in her room between 3 and 4 o'clock, and was smoking. Yes, she knew I had the 
jewelry, she has seen me wear it." 

On the return of Efifie Hankins to Chicago she talked freely to the reporters, and 
implicated May Banker in the robbery of her diamonds — in so far as knowledge of the 
thieves and disposition of the plunder was concerned — and likewise hinted that May 
Banker's paramour knew more about the affair than had been made apparent on the 
trial of the case. 

May Banker was discharged on preliminary examination before Recorder Davey, 
but her house had gained so bad a reputation that none dared to venture into it for 
fear of being robbed, and she sold out all her furniture and effects, except her 
wardrobe and jewelry, and left the city for parts unknown. Detective Kerwin went to 
Montgomery, and on April 12, 1886, returned to New Orleans, having Tommy White, 
alias Roberts, alias J. C. Smith, in his custody. The charge against him is robbing 
Mr. Jackson, of Selma, Ala., a guest at the Hotel Royal, in New Orleans. Kerwin 
had a requisition for Wilson, the " Peoria Kid," but it does not appear that Wilson was 
returned. White was convicted for this offense, and sentenced to eighteen months in 
State prison at Baton Rouge, La., on May 28, 1886. He was taken there on June 17, 
1886. This latter fact is mentioned as, under the laws of Louisiana, a convict's sentence 
does not commence until he enters the prison. 

The following is a description of Cannon's companions : 

Tom White, alias Roberts, alias Montreal Tom, hotel thief and bank sneak, was 
forty-two years old in 1886. Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Black 
hair and mustache, gray eyes, dark complexion. Born in Canada. Is a consumptive. 

George Stacy, alias Wilson, alias The Peoria Kid, was twenty-three years old 
in 1886. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Gray eyes, auburn hair, 
freckled face, fresh complexion. Very smiling address. Is well educated. He was 
discharged at Montgomery, Ala., on April 5, 1886, and arrested again at Cairo, 111., and 
sent to jail, in May, 1886, in company of George Jelt, of Jeff", another desperate thief. 

Cannon's picture is a very good one, taken in New Orleans, La., in 1886. 



102 

EDWARD LYMAN, alias NED LYMAN, 

alias AcKERsoN. 

PICKPOCKET, SNEAK AND CONFIDENCE MAN. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in Boston, Mass. Stout build. Height, 
5 feet 8^ inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Light hair, blue eyes, light complexion, full 
face. Married, Painter by trade. Has " E. L." in India ink on his arm ; scars on 
three fingers of right hand and on under lip. 



1 82 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA, 

RECORD. 

Ned Lyman is probably one of the cleverest general thieves in America, and 
is well known in all the principal cities East and West, especially in Boston, where he 
makes his home. 

Lyman, under the name of George Ackerson, was convicted in the Superior Court 
of Boston, Mass., on January 17, 1863, for larceny from the person, and sentenced to 
the House of Correction for four months. Discharged May 15, 1863. 

He was convicted again in the same court on May 19, 1864, for larceny from the 
person, and sentenced to the House of Correction for six months. He was discharged 
September 14, 1864. 

Again convicted in the same court on May 25, 1868, for assault and battery with a 
knife, and sentenced for two years in the House of Correction. Discharged December 
23, 1870. There is evidently some mistake in the date of Lyman's discharge from the 
House of Correction in Boston, as the record shows that he was arrested in New York 
City on July 22, 1870, for till-tapping, and committed in $1,500 bail by Judge Cox. 

The records also show that he was arrested and convicted of larceny from the 
person in Philadelphia, Pa., and sentenced to four years in the Eastern Penitentiary on 
March 27, 1880. 

Again, in the Superior Court of Boston, Mass, April 17, 1884, he was convicted of 
an attempt to commit larceny from the person, and sentenced to the House of 
Correction for twelve months. Discharged March 12, 1885. This last time he gave 
the name of George Ackerson. 

Lyman was arrested in Boston again in June, 1885, for larceny from the person, 
and gave bail, which was defaulted. 

In August, 1885, he was arrested in Providence, R. L, for larceny from the person, 
and was sentenced to one year in prison there. When his time expires, he will be 
taken back to Boston and tried on the complaint he ran away from. 

Lyman's picture is an excellent one, taken in Boston in 1884. 



103 
FRANK WOODS, alias McKENNA. 

PICKPOCKET, BURGLAR AND SECOND-STORY MAN. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Thirty-five years old in 1886. Born in New York City. Single. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 135 pounds. Black hair, gray eyes, 
fair complexion. Has scar on left hand, near thumb joint. Has figures " 25 " in India 
ink on outside of left fore-arm. 



103 



104 



105 





FRANK WOODS, 

ALIAS McKENNA, 

BURGLAR, PICKPOCKET, AND 
SECOND STOR^ MAN, 



CHARLES WARD, 

ALIAS HALL, 

CONFIDENCE. 



SOLOMON STERN, 
FORGED ORDERS. 



106 



107 



108 




WILLIAM B. TOWLE, 
DOCTOR'S OFFICE SNEAK. 



JAMES CAMPBELL, 

ALIAS SHANG CAMPBELL 

BURGLAR AND PICKPOCKET. 



JAMES LEE, 
BOGUS CUSTOM HOUSE COLLECTOR. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 183 

RECORD. 

Woods is perhaps one of the smartest house thieves there is in this country. 
He confines himself to second-story work generally, and usually works wealthy 
manufacturing towns and summer resorts. He was arrested in New York City on July 
15, 1874, under the name of Frank McKenna, in company of William Johnson, charged 
with entering the house of J. A. Terhune, No. 416 West Twenty-eighth Street, by 
removing a panel of the basement door. The noise awakened the occupants of the 
house, who pursued them, and caused their arrest. Woods and Johnson both pleaded 
guilty to burglary in the third degree, and were each sentenced to State prison at Sing 
Sing for five years on August 4, 1874, by Recorder Hackett. 

Woods escaped from Sing Sing on June 2, 1876, but was recaptured and returned 
to prison the same month. 

He was arrested again in New York City on March 5, 1885, and delivered to the 
authorities of Pawtucket, R. I., charged with robbing the house of William Sayles, a 
wealthy nianufacturer of that place. This robbery was what is called a second-story 
job. He was tried on July 3, 1885, and the jury disagreed. He was afterwards admitted 
to bail, an official becoming his bondsman, so as to insure his return in case any further 
evidence could be obtained against him. This was a lucky escape for him. 

Woods is well known in all the large Eastern cities. He has served time in State 
prisons in New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and is a very clever thief. 

Woods' picture is a good one, taken in December, 1877. 



104 
CHARLES WARD, alias WM. H. HALL. 

CONFIDENCE MAN AND SWINDLER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-two years old in 1886. Born in United States. Book-keeper. Married. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 159 pounds. Brown hair, mixed 
with gray, wears it long ; blue eyes, light complexion. Generally wears a full, heavy 
gray beard and mustache. Dresses well, and has an extraordinary gift of the gab. 

RECORD. 

Charley Ward, whose right name is Charles Vallum, is one of the most noted 
confidence operators in America. He enjoys the distinction of being the only man in 
his line who can play the confidence game successfully on women. His principal forte, 
though, is collecting subscriptions for homes and asylums. 

He was arrested in New York City on April 6, 1877, for collecting money for the 
Presbyterian Hospital of New York City without authority. For this he was sentenced 
to five years in State prison, on April 12, 1877, by Judge Sutherland. He was 
pardoned by Governor Cornell in 1880. 



1 84 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

He was arrested again in New York City on August 4, 1881, for collecting consid- 
erable money, without authority, in aid of the " Society for the Relief of the Destitute 
Blind," of New York City, and appropriating it to his own use. In this case, owing to 
the efforts of a loving wife, he escaped with eighteen months' imprisonment in State 
prison, on September 7, 1881, being sentenced by Judge Cowing. 

Ward's picture is an excellent one, taken in April, 1877. 



105 
SOLOMON STERN. 

BOGUS CHECKS AND CONFIDENCE OPERATOR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-two years old in 1886. Jew. Born in United States. Single. Book- 
keeper. Slim build. Height, 5 feet 3^ inches. Weight, 115 pounds. Black hair, 
gray eyes, sallow complexion. 

RECORD. 

Solomon Stern is the son of very respectable parents. He was arrested in New 
York City on June 29, 1883, charged with obtaining large quantities of jewelry, etc., 
from merchants by means of bogus checks. 

The story of Stern's downfall is interesting. In the spring of 1882 he became 
attached to a woman in an up-town resort in New York City. He was then a salesman 
in his father's store, and resided at home. His salary was small, his father being a 
strict disciplinarian and an unbeliever in the fashionable follies of young men. Young 
Stern had little spending money, and in order to gratify his inamorata began stealing 
from his father. He purchased diamonds for her and paid her board at a seaside hotel. 
Her tastes were very expensive, and her demands on Stern for money very frequent. 
He began going every Sunday morning to his father's store, and always went away 
with a roll of costly woolen cloth. An inventory of stock was taken, and the father 
discovered that he was being systematically robbed. More than $5,000 worth of 
woolens had been stolen. Mr. Stern soon found that his son was the thief, and 
discharged him. He also turned him out of his home. When this occurred the young 
man had become a confirmed drinker. 

Stern was still infatuated with the woman, and was determined to get money to 
supply her demands. " He endeavored to borrow from his acquaintances, but without 
avail. Then he went to his mother, but she discarded him, and his paternal uncle also 
gave him the cold shoulder. It was then he resolved upon a career of crime. 

He wrote his mother's name to a check of $650 which he gave in payment for some 
diamonds to C. W. Schumann, of No. 24 John Street, New York City, on September 
24, 1882. The check was on the Germania Bank. He sold the diamonds, and with 
his companion went to Baltimore, where he stayed until all his money was spent. 
When the woman wanted more he returned. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 185 

On December 16, 1882, he obtained a sealskin sacque with a $250 worthless check 
from Henry Propach, a furrier, at No. 819 Broadway, New York, and three days later 
a precious stone worth $525 from A. R. Picare, a jeweler, of Fifteenth Street, New 
York, whom he paid in similar fashion. 

When the police got on his track he went out of town again. He didn't return to 
New York until January 6, 1883, when he swindled Joseph Michal, of No. 150 Ewen 
Street, Brooklyn, out of $800 by giving a worthless check in payment for jewelry. 

There were four complaints against Stern. He pleaded guilty to one of them, and 
was sentenced to five years in State prison by Judge Gildersleeve, on August 3, 1883, in 
the Court of General Sessions, New York City. 

His sentence will expire on March 3, 1887. 

His picture is a good one, taken in June, 1883. 



106 
WILLIAM B. TOWLE. 

DOCTOR'S OFFICE SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Born in Australia. Very slim build. Married. 
Height, 6 feet ij^ inches. Weight, 160 pounds. Sandy hair, blue eyes, sandy, 
complexion. Has scars on the left arm, near the wrist ; freckled hands. 

RECORD. 

William B. Towle makes a specialty of robbing doctors' offices. Twenty-seven 
physicians, all Towle's victims, were present in court in New York City on July 19, 
1884, to testify that he had entered their offices and stolen medical instruments, etc. 

His method of operating was the same at nearly all the places which he visited. 
Sometimes he would dash up to a doctor's door in a cab, and after hastily inditing a 
note, be left alone in the office and suddenly leave the premises with whatever he could 
lay his hands on. At one time he was a clerk in a drug store, there becoming familiar 
with the value of different articles used by physicians and surgeons. He was convicted 
and sentenced to two years in State prison on August 6, 1884, by Judge Cowing. 

Towle was recognized in court as a man who in January, 1884, was arrested for 
assaulting a man named Oliver, in Abingdon Square, New York. It was said at the 
time that Oliver had found his wife and Towle under suspicious circumstances. For 
this assault Towle was sent to Blackwell's Island, and was only a short time from there 
when arrested for robbing doctors' offices and sentenced as above. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in July, 1884. 



1 86 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

107 

JAMES CAMPBELL, alias SHANG CAMPBELL, 

alias Trainor. 
BURGLAR AND PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. No trade. Stout 

build. Height, 5 feet 75^ inches. Weight, 160 pounds. Irish descent. Sandy hair, 

bluish-gray eyes, sandy complexion. Straight nose. Generally wears a sandy 
mustache. 

RECORD. 

"Shang" Campbell is a well known New York burglar and pickpocket. He is 
an associate of Poodle Murphy (134), Charley Allen, Joe Gorman (146), Dick 
Morris (141), Curly Charley, and other first-class men. He is also well known in 
all the principal cities in the United States and Canada. He is a big rough fellow^ 
well calculated for a " stall." 

His first offense was burglary on a bonded warehouse in the lower part of New 
York, for which he was arrested and sentenced to five years in Sing Sing prison, under 
the name of Thomas Burns. 

Campbell was one of the gang of masked burglars that operated so extensively in 
Westchester County, N. Y., and in other places in the vicinity of New York City, in 
1873. (See record of No. 138.) The entire gang, consisting of Dan Kelly, Patsey 
Conroy (now dead), Denny Brady, John, alias Brittley Burns, Larry Griffin, George 
Milliard (138), and others, were arrested in New York City, and sent to State prison 
for terms ranging from two and a half to twenty years. Campbell and Johnny Dobbs 
escaped through the side door of Milliard's saloon when the police entered and arrested 
the gang. 

After their narrow escape Campbell and Dobbs turned up in Florida as gentlemen 
of leisure, traveling for their health. They had plenty of money, and drank to excess. 
Campbell let out their real character while on a spree. A drunken brawl furnished a 
pretext for their arrest, and Campbell's baggage was found to consist only of a complete 
set of burglars' tools. They sufficed to hold Campbell, but Dobbs was discharged, and 
lost no time in quitting Florida for New York, where he barely escaped arrest for 
shooting at a person in Cherry Street whom he had accused of furnishing the 
information upon which his old associates were arrested. 

While the identification of Campbell was yet in doubt, the Sheriff of Key West 
was very much surprised by a letter from a well known man in New York, vouching for 
Campbell as a reputable resident of that city. The letter urged upon the Sheriff the 
unconditional release of the prisoner. Some difficulty was experienced in obtaining a 
warrant of extradition from the Governor of the State of New York (Dix), but one was 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 187 

granted at the urgent solicitation of District- Attorney Briggs, of Westchester County. 
While the nec.essary papers were in preparation Campbell escaped. He was shut up in 
a rickety old jail with a negro held for murdering a United States marine, and one 
Edward Baker, a local offender. Baker stood on Campbell's shoulders, and with an old 
case-knife cut a hole in the ceiling large enough for them to squeeze through. The 
Key West Aldermen offered a reward of $200 for the arrest of the negro, and $100 for 
Campbell. Baker's brother earned the reward by guiding a party of soldiers to the 
island on which they were hidden. Campbell was returned to jail and securely anchored 
with three hundred pounds of iron riveted to his legs, where he remained until the 
arrival of the New York ofificers, who brought him back and took him to White Plains, 
where he was sentenced to two years and six months in State prison on April 22, 1874, 
by Judge Gifford. 

He was arrested again in Montreal, Canada, in January, 1882, in company of Billy 
Dewey (now dead), and Charles Douglas, alias Curly Charley, for sneaking from 
a train a valise containing $14,000 in money, the property of one McNamee. They 
were all arrested, the money was returned, and the complainant was sentenced to ten 
days in jail for refusing to make a charge against them. In this case they were 
discharged. Since then " Shang " has been traveling around the country with a clever 
" mob " of pickpockets, and at last accounts was in Canada. 

Campbell's picture is a good one, taken in November, 1877. 



108 

JAMES LEE, alias HARTMAN. 

alias Coleman. 

BOGUS CUSTOM-HOUSE COLLECTOR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1 886. Born in United States. No trade. Single. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 9^^ inches. Weight, 175 pounds. Hair sandy, eyes gray, 
sandy complexion, reddish-brown mustache. Has a naval coat-of-arms, anchor and 
eagle, in India ink, on right arm. 

RECORD. 

James Lee was evidently in the government employ, so well is he posted in 
custom-house matters. 

He was arrested in New York City on April 23, 1882, charged by Mrs. C. F. 
Chillas, of Livingston Place, with defrauding her and thirty others out of $9.98. Lee 
claimed to be a custom-house collector, and would collect this amount and give the 
parties an order on the custom-house stores for a package which he claimed was 



1 88 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

consigned to them from Europe. In this case Lee was sentenced to two years and six 
months in State prison on May 5, 1882, by Judge Gildersleeve. His sentence expired 
on May 5, 1884. 

He was arrested again in Baltimore, Md., on September 17, 1884, charged with 
swindling eight persons in that city under similar circumstances. In several instances 
Lee sat at the piano and played " Nearer, my God, to Thee," while the ladies left the 
parlor to procure the money for him. He was again sentenced to three years in State 
prison on October 15, 1884. His sentence will expire April 14, 1887. 

Lee's picture is an excellent one, taken in April, 1882. 



109 

WILLIAM E. FARRELL, alias SHERIDAN, 

alias Frank Alexander. 

BURGLAR AND BUTCHER-CART THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-one years old in 1886. Medium build. Born in New York City. Single. 
No trade. Height, 5 feet 10^ inches. Weight, 167 pounds. Black hair, dark eyes, 
dark complexion. Has a scar over the left eye, another on right side of chin. Left 
arm has been broken at elbow. 

RECORD. 

Farrell is a desperate and daring thief. He is a burglar, but of late years has 
done considerable butcher-cart work. He is the man that makes the assault, generally 
using about eighteen inches of lead water-pipe as a weapon. He has served two terms 
in Sing Sing prison, one in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, and one in Boston, 
Mass., for burglary and larceny. 

He was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on January 15, 1884, by the New York 
detectives, assisted by Philadelphia officers, with one James Titterington, alias Titter 
(ill), charged with assaulting with a piece of lead pipe and robbing Luther Church, 
the superintendent of John E. Dwight's Harlem Soda Works, of $2,300, as he was 
descending the steps of the iiith Street station of the Second Avenue Elevated 
Railroad in New York City, on December 31, 1883. Farrell pleaded guilty to robbery 
in the first degree, and was sentenced to fifteen years in State prison on January 25, 
1884, by Judge Cowing, in the Court of General Sessions, New York, 

Eddie Gearing, alias Goodie (no), the celebrated butcher-cart thief, was also 
arrested in connection with this robbery, and sentenced to twenty years in State prison. 
Titterington (m) turned State's evidence and was used to convict Goodie. He 
was finally sentenced to seven years and six months in State prison on March 14, 1884. 

Farrell's picture is a good one, taken in December, 1877. 



109 



no 



(M 




WILLIAM E. FARRELL, 
BUTCHER CART THIEF. 



EDWARD GEARING, 

ALIAS EDDIE GODDIE, 

BUTCHER CART THIEF. 



JAMES TITTERINGTON, 

ALIAS TITTER, 

BUTCHER CART THIEF. 



112 



113 



114 




CHARLES SMYTH. 

ALIAS DOC. SMITH, 

SAW DUST GAME. 



JAMES FITZGERALD, 

ALIAS THE KID, 
BANCO. 



GEORGE ELLWOOD, 

ALIAS GENTLEMAN GEORGE, 

MASKED BURGLAR. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 189 

110 

EDWARD GEARING, alias EDDIE GOODIE, 

alias Goodrich, alias Miller. 
BUTCHER-CART THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Born in New York. Married. Medium build. 
Height, 5 feet 65^ inches. Weight, 145 pounds. Brown hair, gray eyes, fair com- 
plexion. Has a goddess of liberty in India ink on left fore-arm, anchor and clasped 
hands on right fore-arm, and a heart on right hand. Bald in front of head. Generally 
wears a red mustache and whiskers, which he dyes black occasionally. 

RECORD. 

Eddie Goodie, or Gearing, which is his right name, was the originator of butcher- 
cart work, in company of Steve Boyle and Big Frank McCoy (89), several years ago. 
He has been connected with nearly every robbery of that character which has taken 
place in New York City and vicinity for the last twenty years. He is one of the 
smartest thieves in America, a man of wonderful audacity and resources. He is so 
cunning and clever that he has always managed to slip out of the meshes of the law, 
while others not so crafty or culpable have slipped in. 

He was arrested in New York City on February 13, 1870, in company of a man 
who has since reformed, for stealing a case of silk valued at $17,000 from a Custom- 
house truck. The party arrested with Goodie was sent to prison for five years, he 
assuming all the blame and swearing that Goodie had nothing to do with the robbery. 

In 1874 Goodie and Mike Hurley, alias Pugsie Hurley (88), robbed a butter 
merchant in Brooklyn, N. Y. They were let out on bail, which ended it. 

In 1875 Goodie, Billy Williams, Big John Tracy, and John McKewan robbed 
William B. Golden, a book-keeper, of $5,000, while'he was on his way to pay off the 
hands of the Badger Iron Works Company, in New York City. The book-keeper left 
the Dry Dock Bank, then in East Tenth Street, New York, taking a horse-car. Two 
men entered after him, and seated themselves by his side. Another man, who was on 
horseback, followed the car. At Fourteenth Street and Avenue D the two men 
grabbed the money bag and threw it to the man on horseback, who was Goodie, and 
they all escaped. 

In 1876 the book-keeper of the Standard Oil Works left their main office, in Pearl 
Street, New York City, with $8,000 in money, to pay off the hands in Greenpoint. He 
was followed from New York by Goodie and two other men, who assaulted and robbed 
him. He was also implicated in robbing the cashier of the Planet Flour Mills, in 
Brooklyn, N. Y., of $3,500, in March, 1878. 

Goodie was the driver of the wagon used in the Northampton, Mass., bank robbery 
in January, 1876, and was an associate of Red Leary, George Bliss, Bob Dunlap, and 



I go PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

several other expert bank robbers. He was also connected with the Manhattan Bank 
robbery in New York City, in October, 1878. 

In the latter part of 1880, Goodie and Willie Farrell (109) robbed a man of 
$2,200 near the Bank of the Metropolis, New York. They escaped by driving away 
in a butcher-cart. 

It was Goodie who drove the butcher-cart when Ruppert's collector was robbed of 
$9,600 in money, in East Forty-second Street, New York, in July, 1881. 

Goodie was the man that was described as wearing a big brown mustache, who 
jumped over the fence in Jersey City, N. J., on July 18, 1883, when Cashier Smith, of 
the National Bank of Orange, N. J., was assaulted and an attempt made to rob him of 
$10,000 in money. Pete Emmerson, alias Banjo Pete (90), Ned Farrell, and 
John Nugent, the other parties in this robbery, were arrested at the time, and are now 
in State prison. 

Goodie was arrested in New York City on February 7, 1884, charged, in connection 
with William Farrell (109) and James Titterington (m), with assaulting with a 
piece of lead pipe and robbing one Luther Church of $2,300, on December 31, 1883. 
He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to twenty years in State prison on February 
21, 1884, by Recorder Smyth, in the Court of General Sessions, New York City. 

Goodie's picture is a good one, taken in February, 1884. 



Ill 

JAMES TITTERINGTON, alias TITTER, 

alias Henderson. 
BURGLAR AND BUTCHER-CART THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty years old in 1886. Born in New York. A driver. Single. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 10^ inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Black hair, gray eyes, 
sallow complexion. Has letters "J. T." in India ink on right arm. Stutters when 
talking. 

RECORD. 

"Titter," the name he is best known by, was born in New York City. He 
branched out as a sneak thief, from that to a burglar, and then a highwayman. He 
has served time in Sing Sing prison, and in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, New 
York, for larceny and burglary. 

He was arrested in Philadelphia on January 15, 1884, and brought to New York 
City in connection with Willie Farrell (109) and Eddie Goodie (no), for robbing one 
Luther Church of $2,300, on December 31, 1883, as Mr. Church was descending the 
steps of the Elevated Railroad station at iiith Street and Second Avenue, New York. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 191 

Titterington and Farrell were on the stairway, and as soon as he passed down by them 
they followed, and Farrell hit him with a piece of lead pipe about eighteen inches long 
and knocked him down. Titter snatched the bundle of money and both jumped into a 
butcher-cart and were driven away by Goodie. Titter made a confession after his 
arrest, and was made the principal witness against Goodie, who was convicted. Farrell 
pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment. Titterington also 
pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to seven years and six months in State prison on 
March 14, 1884. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in December, 1876. 



112 

CHARLES SMYTH, alias DOCTOR SMYTH, 

alias Harrison. 
CONFIDENCE AND SAWDUST GAME. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-three years old in 1886. Born in Germany. Single. Medium build. 
Height, 5 feet 8^ inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Light hair, blue eyes, fair com- 
plexion. Wears glasses, and a light-colored mustache. 

' RECORD. 

"Doc" Smyth is a well-known Bowery, New York, confidence and sawdust man. 
He generally works with Charley Johnson and Freddie Reeves, and is an old offender. 
He is also well known in a number of other cities, having been arrested several times, 
and is considered a clever man at his business. 

He was arrested in New York City on December i, 1885, charged with using the 
United States mails in flooding the Western States with circulars offering "Green 
goods, in samples of $1, $2, $5 and $10," to farmers and others, assuring them of a 
safe and rapid fortune by dealing in the stuff, which was understood to be counterfeit 
money. 

The " Doctor " pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment 
by Judge Benedict, of the United States Court, in New York City, on December 17, 

1885. 

Smyth's picture is a very good one, taken m March, 1878. 



192 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

113 

JAMES FITZGERALD, alias RED FITZ, 

alias The Kid. 

BANCO STEERER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-nine years old in 1886. Born in Washington, D, C. Slim build. Single. 
Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 130 pounds. Red hair, dark auburn eyes, sandy 
complexion, straight nose, beard red (when worn), hair very thick and coarse. 

RECORD. 

" The Kid," as he is called, is well known in New York, Boston and several other 
large cities, and is considered one of the cleverest men in the banco business. He 
generally worked with Johnny Norton (now dead). 

He and Norton were the two men that succeeded in obtaining $7,000 from Charles 
Francis Adams, in Boston, in 1882, by the banco game. "The Kid " was arrested, 
tried,, convicted, and sentenced to five years in the Charlestown, Mass., State prison on 
June 23, 1882. His sentence will expire August 27, 1886. 

Norton escaped at the time and never was captured. He died in New York City 
in March, 1885. 

Fitzgerald's picture is a good one, taken in October, 1881. 



114 

GEORGE N. ELWOOD, alias GENTLEMAN 

GEORGE. 

MASKED BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Born in Chicago, 111. Single. No trade. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 9^ inches. Weight, 163 pounds. Hair dyed black, eyes dark- 
blue, complexion sallow. Has small scar on back of head, left side. 

RECORD. 

Elwood Wilson is a daring and murderous Western thief. Nothing much is 
known of him in the Eastern country. 

He was arrested in New York City on August 24, 1885, in company of Joe Wilson, 
alias Whalen (65), charged with a series of masked burglaries in several of the Western 
States. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 193 

When Elwood's and Wilson's rooms, at No. 220 Forsyth Street, New York City, 
were searched, after the capture of the cracksmen, among the articles seized was a 
Masonic ring, marked "Edison W. Baumgarten, June 25, 1884." The ring was traced 
to Ohio, and on August 25, 1885, in response to some inquiries made by telegraph, 
the Chief of Police of New York City received the following reply from the Chief of 
Police of Toledo : 

" Hold Elwood and Wilson. Charge, grand larceny and burglary and shooting 
officer with intent to kill. Will send requisition papers immediately." 

Subsequent correspondence on the same subject stated that the men were also 
wanted for a robbery which they had committed at Detroit. The crime for which the 
Toledo authorities requested the detention of the prisoners was committed on August 
13, 1885.. On that night, it was alleged, they broke into a house, and being discovered 
in the act of plundering the place, fired several shots at the servants. An alarm was 
raised, and a policeman who started in pursuit of the fugitives was shot in the breast 
and dangerously wounded. The men then came on to New York. They had been 
there only a few days before they were under surveillance, and while they were being 
watched the detectives became aware of the plans they were hatching for a series of 
burglaries which they contemplated committing in Saratoga. When they were about 
to start on that trip the detectives arrested them. All through the West, Elwood is 
known as a daring and desperate burglar, and it is said that some two years ago he 
murdered two of his associates. 

Elwood and Wilson were on August 25 arraigned at the Jefferson Market Court 
in New York City, and at the request of their captors they were committed until 
the arrival of the Toledo authorities with the requisition papers. They were both 
delivered to the police authorities of Toledo, Ohio, on August 29, 1885, and taken 
there for trial. 

Elwood and Wilson were the parties who robbed the residences of Messrs. Oakes 
and Merriam in St. Paul, Minn., in August, 1885. Merriam's diamond scarf-pin 
was found in their possession, and a pawn ticket taken at Detroit for his diamond 
collar-button was also found upon them. A requisition was taken out at St. Paul to 
intercept the prisoners at Toledo, where they were being taken for the robbery of Mr. 
Baumgarten's residence and the murder of a policeman. The intention was to take 
them to St. Paul in case they could not be held for the Toledo crimes. 

The trial of George A. Elwood, one of the notorious burglars, closed at Toledo, 
Ohio, on December 12, 1885, with a verdict of guilty. The defense offered no evidence, 
but argued that Elwood had not been sufficiently identified. A motion for a new trial 
was made, which was overruled. Elwood said he believed he would get the full extent 
of the law. He and his partner, Joseph Wilson, are the original gentlemanly 
burglars who emptied the houses and filled the newspapers of Cleveland, Detroit, St. 
Paul, Milwaukee and St. Louis, until their doings in Toledo led to their apprehension 
in New York. These men are well known thieves, and considerable excitement 
was caused among the fraternity at the time they were arrested and were about 
to be taken back to the West. Their methods employed to transfer the 
possessions of others to their pockets were so peculiarly bold that the whole West 



194 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

was startled by their exploits. Detroit in particular suffered from them, mainly because 
the police were nonplused by the audacity of their performances. They invariably 
awakened the parties they intended to rob, and compelled them to comply with their 
wishes at the points of their revolvers. Oftentimes they would repair to the dining- 
room with the owner of the premises and indulge in a feast before their departure. 
Besides doing this, at a residence in Cleveland, they compelled the victim to sign a 
check for $ioo and made him promise not to dishonor it. While leaving a Detroit 
residence early one morning they met the gentleman of the house returning from out 
of the city, and not at all taken aback by the encounter, they robbed him on the porch, 
and then sent him into the house to see what they had left. These eccentricities caused 
their fame to spread far and wide, and the " gentlemanly burglar " was patterned after 
in many localities. But there were few equals, and none superior. For coolness and 
daring Elwood and Wilson stood in the front rank of masked burglars. 

Elwood was found guilty on December 19, 1885, and was sentenced to ten years 
in the Ohio penitentiary. In the case of Wilson there was a disagreement of the jury. 
A second trial resulted in his conviction. (See record of No. 65.) 

Before Wilson associated with the desperado Elwood he operated for months 
alone in Brooklyn, N. Y. House robbery was his line of business, and silverware his 
plunder. He committed a series of mysterious robberies, and although an active 
search was made for the " silver king," he succeeded in avoiding arrest. His repeated 
successes stimulated other thieves, who began operating in Brooklyn. One of the 
latter was caught, and it was then believed that the cunning "silver king" had been at 
last trapped. Such was not the case, for Wilson had set out for the Western country. 

Elwood's picture was taken in August, 1885. 



115 

ELLEN CLEGG, alias MARY WILSON, 

alias Mary Gray, alias Mary Lane, etc. 

SHOPLIFTER, PICKPOCKET, AND HAND-BAG OPENER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in United States. Lives in New York. 
Married. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 5 inches. Weight, 145 pounds. Brown hair, 
brown eyes, light complexion, big ears. 



RECORD. 



Ellen Clegg is an old and expert pickpocket, shoplifter, and hand-bag opener. 
She was one of Mrs. Mandelbaum's women, and is well known throughout the country. 
Her picture is in the Rogues' Gallery in several of the large cities. She is a clever 
woman, and the wife of Old Jimmy Clegg, alias Bailey, alias Lee, alias Thomas, who 



115 



116 



117 




ELLEN CLEGG, 

ALIAS ELLEN LEE, 

SHOP LIFTER AND PICKPOCKET. 



MARY HOLLBROOK, 

ALIAS MOLLY HOEY, 

PICKPOCKET. 



MARGRET BROWN, 

ALIAS OLD MOTHER HUBBARD, 

PICKPOCKET AND SATCHEL WORKER. 



118 



119 



120 




CHRISTENE MAYER, 

ALIAS KID GLOVE ROSEY, 

SHOP LIFTER 



LENA KLEINSCHMIDT, 

ALIAS RICE — BLACK LENA, 

SHOP LIFTER. 



MARY CONNELLY, 

ALIAS IRVING, 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOP LIFTER. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 195 

was convicted and sentenced in Portsmouth, N. H., in April, 1882, for four years, for 
picking pockets. This team has traveled through the country for years, and been 
arrested time and time again. 

Ellen was arrested in Boston, Mass., on December 6, 1876, in company of Tilly 
Miller, Black Lena, and four other notorious shoplifters, and her picture taken for the 
Rogues' Gallery. 

She was arrested again in Boston in 1878 for picking pockets, and sent to the 
House of Correction. 

Again arrested in New York City on November 24, 1879, in company of Walter 
Price (197), under the name of Mary Gray, charged with shoplifting. (See record of 
No. 197.) She pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary on 
Blackwell's Island, N. Y., by Judge Gildersleeve, on December 16, 1879. Price went 
to State prison. Ellen's time expired in this case on April 16, 1882. 

She was arrested again in Boston on May 21, 1883, for shoplifting, and sentenced 
to one year in the House of Correction. 

Arrested again in Boston on December 22, 1885, and again sent to the House of 
Correction for one year. In this case Ellen was detected in the act of opening a lady's 
hand-bag and attempting to remove a pocket-book. 

Her picture is a pretty good one, taken in 1876. 



116 
MARY HOLBROOK, alias MOLLIE HOEY, 

alias Harvey. 
PICKPOCKET, SNEAK AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-eight years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Married. Housekeeper. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 2 inches. Weight, about 135 pounds. Light hair, blue eyes, 
light complexion. Shows her age. 

RECORD. 

MoLLiE HoLBROOK was in early life a resident of the West End, in Boston, Mass. 
She is well known in Chicago and in all the principal cities of the United States. She 
has served terms in prison in Boston, Chicago, and New York, and is without doubt the 
most notorious and successful female thief in America. She is well known of late years 
as the wife of Jimmy Hoey, alias Orr, a negotiator of stolen property. MoUie was 
formerly married to one George Holbrook, alias Buck Holbrook, a well known Chicago 
gambler and thief. He kept a sporting house in Chicago, also a road house on 
Randolph Street, over which Mollie presided. 

"Buck" was arrested for a bank robbery in Illinois in 1871, and sent to State 
prison. He was shot and killed while attempting to escape from there. He had dug 



196 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

up the floor of his cell and tunneled under the prison yard, and was in the act of 
crawling out of the hole outside the prison wall, when he was riddled with buckshot by 
a prison guard. 

In January, 1872, MoUie was arrested in Chicago, on complaint of her landlady, 
who charged her with stealing forty dollars from her. Mollie deposited $1,200 in 
money as bail, and after her discharge she came to New York City, fell in with Jimmy 
Hoey, and married him. 

She was arrested in New York City for robbing a Western man in her house in 
Chicago of $25,000, on March 3, 1874, on a requisition from Illinois, and delivered to a 
detective of the Chicago police force. While at Hamilton, Canada, on their way back 
to Chicago, Mollie threw herself into the arms of a Canadian policeman and demanded 
protection. She had the officer arrested for attempting to kidnap her. They were 
taken before a magistrate and Mollie was discharged. The officer returned to Chicago,, 
and lost his position for his bad judgment. Mollie was arrested again in New York 
City on the same complaint on July 16, 1874, and returned safely to Chicago, where she 
was sent to prison. 

She was arrested in Boston, Mass., on April 17, 1878, for picking pockets, and gave 
the name of Mary Williams (which is supposed to be her maiden name). She was 
released on $1,000 bail, and forfeited it. 

She was arrested again in Boston on March 19, 1883, for picking pockets at 
Jordan & Marsh's dry goods store. This time she gave the name of Mary Harvey, 
pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to one year in State prison, in April, 1883. 

After her sentence expired in Boston she was arrested coming out of the prison by 
New York officers, taken to that city, and sentenced to five years in the penitentiary on 
Blackwell's Island, on March 3, 1884, for the larceny of a pocket-book from Catharine 
Curtis, some years before. This time Mollie gave the name of Lizzie Ellen Wiggins. 
After her conviction she gave the District Attorney of New York some information 
that led to the finding of a number of indictments against Mrs. Mandelbaum, who. 
fled to Canada. For this she was pardoned by Governor Cleveland on January 5, 1885. 

Mollie was arrested again in Chicago, 111., on September 25, 1885, charged with 
attempting to pick a lady's pocket in Marshal Field's store. She gave bail, and is now 
a fugitive from justice, in Windsor, Canada. She occasionally pays Detroit a visit,, 
where Jimmy Hoey Is located. Mollie Holbrook is looked upon by her associates in 
crime as a woman that would sacrifice any one to save herself from prison. It is well 
known that this woman has been in the employ of the police in a number of large 
cities, and has furnished them with considerable information. Her husband, Jimmy 
Hoey, is an unprincipled scamp, and lives entirely upon the proceeds of his wife's 
stealings, often selling the plunder and acting as a go-between for Mollie and receivers, 
of stolen goods, he of late years not having sufficient courage to steal. 

Mollie's picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1883, 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 197 

117 

MARGARET BROWN, alias YOUNG, 
alias Haskins, alias Old Mother Hubbard. 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER. 

DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-eight years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Married. Housekeeper. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 3 inches. Weight, 120 pounds. Gray hair, gray eyes, light 
complexion. Generally wears a long cloak when stealing. 

RECORD. 

Margaret Brown, which is her right name, has been a thief for fifty years. She 
makes a specialty of opening hand-bags, removing the pocket-book, and closing them 
again. She was arrested in Chicago, III, and sentenced to three years in Joliet prison, 
where, in an attempt to escape, she fell, and was nearly killed. She was discharged 
from Joliet in 1878, and after that operated in St. Louis, New York, Philadelphia, 
Boston, and other cities. 

She was arrested in Boston, Mass., on March 24, 1883, in R. H. White's dry 
goods store, for stealing a hand-bag, which was found on her person ; for this offense 
she served six months in the House of Correction there. 

She was arrested in New York City on March 26, 1884, for stealing a pocket-book 
from a Mrs. H. S. Dennison, of Brooklyn, N. Y., in Macy's store on Fourteenth Street ; 
for this she was sentenced to three months in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island on 
April 2, 1884. 

On the expiration of this sentence on July 2, 1884, she was arrested again on a 
requisition from Boston, Mass., charged with the larceny of a satchel containing $260 
in money from a store there. She was taken to Boston, and sentenced to two years in 
the House of Correction in the latter part of July. She was subsequently transferred 
to Deer Island, on account of her old age and infirmities. 

Her picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1883. 



118 

CHRISTENE MAYER, alias KID GLOVE ROSEY, 

alias Mary Scanlon, alias Rosey Roder. 
SHOPLIFTER. 



description. 

Thirty-nine years old in 1886. Born in Germany. Married. Housekeeper. Slim 
build. Height, 4 feet 11 inches. Weight, about 125 pounds. Dark brown hair, dark 
blue eyes, dark complexion. 



198 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

Kid Glove Rosey is a well known New York shoplifter. She is also well known 
in several other Eastern cities. 

She was arrested in New York City, in company of Lena Kleinschmidt, alias 
Louisa Rice, alias Black Lena (119), on April g, 1880, charged with stealing from the 
store of McCreery & Co., corner of Eleventh Street and Broadway, two pieces of silk 
containing 108 yards, valued at $250. The property was found in their possession, 
together with some other property which had been stolen from Le Boutillier Brothers 
on West Fourteenth Street, New York City. 

Mayer was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years in the penitentiary on 
Blackwell's Island on April 30, 1880. Kleinschmidt, who had been bailed, left the city, 
but was re-arrested, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to four years and nine months 
on the same day by Recorder Smyth. 

Mayer's sentence expired on November 30, 1883, and Kleinschmidt's on September 
30, 1883. 

" Rosey's" picture is a good one, taken in April, 1880. 



119 

LENA KLEINSCHMIDT, alias BLACK LENA, 

alias Rice, alias Smith. 

SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-one years old in 1886. Born in Germany. Married. Housekeeper. Stout 
build. Height, about 5 feet 5 inches. Weight, about 150 pounds. Dark hair, dark 
eyes, dark complexion. Wrinkled face. 

RECORD. 

Lena Kleinschmidt, or " Black Lena," is a notorious shoplifter. She is well 
known from Maine to Chicago, and has been arrested and sent to prison several times, 
three times in New York City alone. 

She was arrested in New York City, in company of Christene Mayer, alias Mary 
Scanlon, alias Kid Glove Rosey (118), on April 9, 1880, for the larceny of 108 yards of 
silk dressings, valued at $250, from the store of McCreery & Co., Broadway and 
Eleventh Street. The property was found on Lena ; and other property, stolen from 
Le Boutillier Brothers, on Fourteenth Street, New York, was found on Rosey. 
Kleinschmidt gave $500 bail, and left the city, but was re-arrested and brought back, 
pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to four years and nine months in the penitentiary on 
Blackwell's Island on April 30, 1880, by Recorder Smyth. 

Rosey was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years, the same day. 

Lena's picture is a good one, taken in April, 1 880. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 199 

120 

MARY ANN CONNELLY, alias ELIZABETH 

IRVING, 

alias Haley, alias Taylor. 

PICKPOCKET, SHOPLIFTER, AND BLUDGEON WORKER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Single. Very fleshy, coarse woman. 
Height, about 5 feet 4 or 5 inches. Weight, 240 pounds. Black hair, black eyes, ruddy 
complexion. Talks with somewhat of an Irish brogue. 

RECORD. 

Mary Ann Connelly is a well known New York pickpocket, shoplifter and 
prostitute, and a coarse, vulgar woman, that would stop at nothing to carry her point. 

She was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to six months in the 
penitentiary, on January 12, 1875, for shoplifting in New York City. 

She was arrested again in New York City, for picking pockets, and sentenced to 
one year in State prison, by Judge Sutherland, on December 11, 1875. 

Arrested again in New York, for picking a woman's pocket, and sentenced to six 
months on Blackwell's Island, on April i, 1878, by Judge Gildersleeve. 

She was arrested again in New York City, in company of Joseph Volkmer and his 
wife Mary on November 27, 1879, ^o"" drugging and attempting to rob one Charles 
Blair, a countryman, whom the trio met on a Boston boat. 

She turned State's evidence, and was used against the Volkmers, who were tried, 
found guilty, and sentenced to twelve years each in State prison, on December 15, 
1879, by Judge Cowing, in the Court of General Sessions. She was discharged in this 
case. 

Her picture is an excellent one, taken in 1875. 



121 

MARY ANN WATTS, alias MARY WILSON, 

alias Mary Walker. 
PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Born in United States. Dressmaker. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 3^^ inches. Weight, about 145 pounds. Dark brown hair, hazel 
eyes, ruddy complexion. Coarse features. 



200 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

Mary Ann Watts is a well known New York female thief. She is considered a 
very clever woman, and is known in all the principal cities East and West. She is 
credited with having served one term in the House of Correction in Boston (Mass.), 
one in Chicago and Philadelphia, besides two terms in New York State prison and two 
in the penitentiary. 

She was arrested in New York City under the name of Mary Wilson, pleaded 
guilty to an attempt at grand larceny, and was sentenced to two years and six months 
in State prison, by Recorder Hackett, on December 19, 1873. 

She escaped shortly after, and was at large until her arrest in New York City again 
for shoplifting. In this case she was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to three years 
in State prison, by Judge Sutherland, on April 6, 1876. 

After this last sentence expired she had to serve out about two years she owed 
on the previous sentence, making about five years in all. 

This is a clever woman, and well worth knowing. 

Her picture is a good one, although taken ten years ago. 



122 
BERTHA HEYMAN, alias BIG BERTHA. 

CONFIDENCE QUEEN. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-five years old in 1886. Born in Germany. Married. Very stout woman. 
Height, 5 feet 4^ inches. Weight, 245 pounds. Hair brown, eyes brown, fair com- 
plexion. German face. An excellent talker. Has four moles on her right cheek. 

RECORD. 

Bertha Heyman's maiden name was Bertha Schlesinger. She is a native of 
Koblyn, near Posen, Prussia. Her father served five years in prison there for forging 
a check. She was married twice, first to one Fritz Karko, when she first came to this 
country in 1878. After living in New York a short time they went to Milwaukee, where 
.she was afterwards married to a Mr. Heyman, although her first husband was still 
living. She has been concerned in a number of swindling transactions, and has the 
reputation of being one of the smartest confidence women in America. 

In September, 1880, she was sued in the Superior Court of New York City for 
obtaining by false pretenses $1,035 from E, T. Perrin, a conductor on a palace car, 
whom she met in traveling from Chicago. 

She was arrested in London, Ontario, on February 8, 1881, in company of one 
Dr. J. E. Cooms, charged with defrauding a Montreal commercial man out of several 
hundred dollars by the confidence game. 



I2i 



122 



r23 





tx^olE^Sfii 



Mf^RY ANN WATTS, 
PICKPOCKET AND SHOP LIFTER. 



BERTHA HEY MAN, 
CONFIDENCE. 



ELLEN DARRIGAN, 

ALIAS ELLEN MATTHEWS, 

PICKPOCKET. 



124 



125 



126 




ELIZABETH DILLON, 

ALIAS BRIDGET COLE 

PICKPOCKET. 



TILLY MARTIN, 

ALIAS PHIEFER. 

SNEAK. 



MARY BUSBY, 

ALIAS JOHNSON 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOP LIFTER. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 20I 

She was tried in Richmond County, Staten Island, N. Y., in June, 1881, for 
obtaining $250 in money and two gold watches from a Mrs. Pauline Schlarbaum, an 
old lady of Southfield, S. I. She was acquitted in this case. 

She was arrested on leaving the court and brought to New York City on June 29, 
1 88 1, charged with obtaining, under false pretences, $960 from Mr. Charles Brandt, a 
liquor merchant, at No. 19 Bowery, New York City; also $500 from Mr. Theodore W. 
Morris, a glass importer, of No. 27 Chambers Street, New York. She was tried and 
found guilty on the Morris indictment on October 26, and on Friday, October 29, 188 1, 
she was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary by Judge Cowing. 

While in prison on Blackwell's Island she made the acquaintance of a trustful 
German named Charles Karpe. She was employed as a servant in the Warden's 
house. Karpe visited her during her confinement there, and she finally, while a 
prisoner, victimized the poor man out of $900, all the money he had in the world. 

After her discharge from the Island, she went to live at the Hoffman House in 
New York. On June 28, 1883, she visited Edward Saunders, of the firm of Saunders 
& Hoffman, brokers, at Broadway and Fulton Street, New York, and induced him to 
advance $40 on the representation that a check for $7,000 belonging to her was in the 
Hoffman House safe. She obtained $215 more and a valuable diamond from him, and 
$200 from his partner, by placing in their hands a sealed package of worthless papers 
which she pretended were securities worth $87,000. In the course of these negotiations 
she professed to be worth $8,000,000. Even this stupendous statement was received 
with respectful attention until the worthlessness of the so-called securities in their safe 
was discovered. In this case she was tried and convicted in the Court of General 
Sessions, on August 22, 1883. An application for a new trial was denied, and she was 
finally sentenced to five years in the penitentiary on August 30, 1883. Her sentence 
will expire, allowing full commutation, on March 30, 1887. 

This remarkable woman used to lodge at the leading hotels, and was always 
attended by a maid or man servant. At the Windsor and Brunswick Hotels in New 
York City she had elegant quarters. When plotting her schemes she would glibly 
talk about her dear friends, always men well known for their wealth and social 
position. She possesses a wonderful knowledge of human nature, and can deceive 
those who consider themselves particularly shrewd in business matters. 

Bertha's picture is a good one, taken in June, 1881. 



123 

ELLEN DARRIGAN, alias ELLEN MATTHEWS. 



SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-three years old in 1886. Born in England. Married. Housekeeper. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 4^ inches. Weight, about 135 pounds. Red hair, 
hazel eyes, light complexion. Her nose has been broken. 



202 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

Ellen Darrigan Is a well known New York shoplifter. It is claimed that she 
has been married three times, first to Jerry Dunn, next to John Mahaney, alias Jack 
Shepperd (62). He is a thief who gained considerable notoriety on account of escaping 
from a number of State prisons and penitentiaries. Billy Darrigan (180), the lady's 
third spouse, is an old New York thief, whose picture is in several Rogues' Galleries 
throughout the United States. Mrs. Darrigan was considered a pretty woman until 
Billy broke her nose in December, 1875. She is well known as Ellen Matthews. 

Ellen was arrested in New York City on December 13, 1875, for shoplifting, and 
was sentenced to four years in State prison. She has served terms in several other 
cities since. 

She finally fell into the hands of the police again on April i, 1885, with Margaret 
Bell, another notorious shoplifter. They were arrested after leaving Altman's dry 
goods store, on Sixth Avenue, New York City, taken to police headquarters, and 
searched. Nothing was found on Mrs. Bell, but a large pocket (" kick ") in Mrs. 
Darrigan's skirt contained a piece of beaded cloth, valued at $50, the property of 
James A. Hearn & Son, No. 30 West Fourteenth Street, New York. In this case they 
were both tried in the Court of Special Sessions, in the Tombs prison, New York, on 
April 9, 1885. Mrs. Bell was discharged, and Mrs. Darrigan was convicted and 
sentenced to five months in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, by Justice Kilbreth, 
the presiding magistrate. 

Her picture is an excellent one, taken in 1875. 



124 

ELIZABETH DILLON, alias BRIDGET COLE. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Married. Housekeeper, Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, about 145 pounds. Brown hair, dark brown 
eyes, swarthy complexion, high cheek bones. A remarkably tall, thin woman ; big lips. 

RECORD. 

Elizabeth Dillon, or Cole, is a well known female pickpocket. She has been 
arrested in almost every city in the Union, and has done considerable service in State 
prisons and penitentiaries throughout the country. She is well known in Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Providence, R. I., and several other Eastern cities. 
She is very quick in her actions and difficult to follow. 

She was arrested in Providence, R. I., on February i, 1879, charged with picking 
pockets, and sentenced to two years in State prison on March 11, 1879. Since then 
she has served two terms in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, New York. 

Her picture is a very good one, taken in March, 1879. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 203 

125 

TILLIE PHEIFFER, alias MARTIN, 

alias Kate Collins. 

HOTEL AND HOUSE SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in France. Servant, Married. Slim build. 
Height, 5 feet 3 inches. Weight, 128 pounds. Dark brown hair, hazel eyes, dark 
complexion. Mole on the right side of the nose under the eye. 

RECORD. 

TiLLiE Pheiffer, or Martin, is a notorious house and hotel sneak thief. She 
sometimes hires out as a servant and robs her employers ; but her specialty is to enter 
a hotel or flat, and wander up through the house until she finds a room door open, 
when she enters and secures whatever is handy and decamps. She is known in New 
York City, Brooklyn, Paterson, N. J., and Baltimore, Md., where she also served a term 
in prison. She is said to have kept a road-house near Paterson, N. J., some years ago. 

Tillie was arrested in New York City a few years ago, endeavoring to rob the 
Berkeley Flats, on the corner of Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue, and sentenced to one 
year in the penitentiary, but subsequently released on habeas corpus proceedings in 

1879- 

She was arrested in Brooklyn, N. Y, disposing of a stolen watch in a pawnbroker's 
shop. When arrested, she drew a revolver and attempted to shoot the officer. For 
this she was sentenced to one year in the penitentiary there. 

She was arrested again in New York City on June 15, 1881, taken to police head- 
quarters and searched. There was found upon her person four pocket-books, which 
contained money and jewelry. In one of them there was $10 in money, a gold hairpin 
and earrings, and the address of Miss Jennie Yeamans, of East Ninth Street, New 
Yo-rk City, who testified that her rooms had been entered by a sneak thief during her 
absence, and the property stolen. Two other parties appeared against her and testified 
that she had robbed them also. Tillie pleaded guilty in this case, and was sentenced to 
one year in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, on June 23, 1881, by Judge Cowing. 

She was arrested again in New York City on June 19, 1882, for entering the 
apartments of Annie E. Tool, No. 151 Avenue B, and stealing a gold watch and chain 
and a pair of diamond earrings valued at $300. For this she was sentenced to eighteen 
months in the penitentiary on June 26, 1882, by Judge Gildersleeve. 

Her picture is a fair one, taken in June, 1882. 



204 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

126 

MARY BUSBY, alias JOHNSON, 

alias Mitchell. 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-eight years old in 1886. Born in England. Married. Stout build. Height, 
5 feet. Weight, 221 pounds. Dark brown hair, gray eyes, dark complexion. 

RECORD. 

Mary Busby is a clever pickpocket and shoplifter, and is well known in all the 
large cities. Harry Busby, alias Broken-nose Busby (135), her husband, is an old New 
York pickpocket and "stall." 

She was arrested in New York City for shoplifting on October 25, 1882, under the 
name of Mary Johnson, and sentenced to six months in the penitentiary on October 
30, 1882, by Judge Ford. 

Arrested again in Boston, Mass., on May 3, 1883, for larceny of $40 worth of silk 
garments from Jourdan & Marsh's dry goods store. For this she was sentenced to one 
year in the House of Correction on May 18, 1883. After her discharge in Boston, she 
went to New York City, and was arrested for the larceny of a bonnet from Rothschild's 
millinery establishment on West Fourteenth Street. For this she was sentenced to 
five months in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island on May 20, 1884. This time she 
gave the name of Mary Mitchell. 

Mary Busby had previously served two years on Blackwell's Island, and two years 
in the House of Correction in Boston, Mass. 

She was again sentenced to fourteen months in the Eastern Penitentiary on 
September 14, 1885, for picking pockets in Wannemaker's store in Philadelphia, Pa. 

Her picture is an excellent one, taken in October, 1882. 



127 

ANNIE REILLY, alias LITTLE ANNIE, 

alias Katie Cooley, alias Kate Connelly, alias Kate Manning. 

DISHONEST SERVANT. 



description. 

Forty-two years old in 1886 ; looks younger. Born in Ireland. Married. Medium 
build. Servant and child's nurse. Height, 5 feet i inch. Weight, 113 pounds. 
Brown hair, gray eyes, fair complexion. Round, full face. Speaks two or three 
languages. 



127 



128 



129 




ANNIE REILLY, 

ALIAS LITTLE ANNIE, 

DISHONEST SERVANT. 



SOPHIE LYONS, 

ALIAS LEVY, 

PICKPOCKET AND BLACKMAILER. 



KATE RYAN, 
PICKPOCKET. 



r30 



131 



132 






ANNIE MACK, 

ALIAS BOND, 

SNEAK AND SHOP LIFTER 



LOUISA JOURDAN, 

ALIAS LITTLE LOUISE, 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOP LIFTER, 



CATHARINE ARMSTRONG, 

ALIAS MARY ANN DOWO- DILLON- 
PICKPOCKET 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 205 

RECORD. 

" Little Annie Reilly " is considered the cleverest woman in her line in America. 
She generally engages herself as a child's nurse, makes a great fuss over the children, 
and gains the good-will of the lady of the house. She seldom remains in one place 
more than one or two days before she robs it, generally taking jewelry, amounting at 
times to four and five thousand dollars. She is well known in all the principal Eastern 
cities, especially in New York, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia, Pa. 

Annie was arrested in New York City, for grand larceny, on complaint of Mrs. 
A. G. Dunn, No. 149 East Eighty-fourth Street, and others, and committed for trial, 
in default of $6,500 bail, by Judge Ledwith. She was convicted, and sentenced to four 
years and six months in State prison, by Judge Sutherland, in the Court of General 
Sessions in New York, on April 23, 1873, under the name of Kate Connelly. 

She was arrested again in New York City, on August 3, 1880, for robbing the 
house of Mrs. Evangeline Swartz, on Second Avenue, New York. She was convicted 
of this robbery, and sentenced to three years in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, 
on September 8, 1880, by Judge Gildersleeve, under the name of Kate Cooley. After 
her release, in January, 1883, she did considerable work in and around New York. 
She robbed the guests of the New York Hotel of $3,500 worth of jewelry, etc., while 
employed there as a servant. She then went to Brooklyn, N. Y., and was arrested 
there, under the name of Kate Manning, on June 5, 1884, for the larceny of a watch 
and chain from Charles A. Jennings, of Macon Street, that city. At the time of her 
arrest a bronze statuette was found in her possession, which was stolen by her from a 
Mr. Buckman, of Columbia Street, New York City. 

Annie pleaded guilty in Brooklyn, N. Y., on Saturday, June 27, 1884, and was 
sentenced to four years and six months in the Kings County Penitentiary. Her 
sentence will expire June 27, 1887, allowing full commutation. 

This woman is well worth knowing. She has stolen more property the last fifteen 
years than any other four women in America. She has served terms in prison in 
Pennsylvania and on Blackwell's Island independently of the above. 

Her picture is an excellent one, taken in August, 1880. 



128 
SOPHIE LEVY, alias LYONS. 

PICKPOCKET AND BLACKMAILER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Jew. Born in United States. Married. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 2 inches. Weight, 115 pounds. Brown hair, gray eyes, light 
complexion. Has four children, two boys (thieves) and two girls, who were brought up 
in a convent in Canada, and are an exception to the rest of the family. 



2o6 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

Sophie Lyons, or Levy, is a notorious shoplifter, pickpocket and blackmailer. 
She has appeared before the public of late years as an adventuress, and has blackmailed 
scores of business men throughout the country. She is the wife of Edward Lyons, 
better known as Ned Lyons, the bank burglar (see No. 70), and is well known all over 
the United States. 

Sophie was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to five years in State prison, 
on October 9, 1871, for grand larceny. She escaped from Sing Sing prison, with the 
assistance of her husband and others, on December 19, 1872. 

She was re-arrested at the Suffolk County, Long Island, N. Y., fair, with her 
husband, caught in the act of picking pockets, and returned to Sing Sing on October 
26, 1876. After serving out her time she went to Boston, Mass., where she made her 
debut as a blackmailer, accompanied by Kate Leary, alias " Red Kate," wife of the 
notorious Red Leary. She went to one of the principal hotels, where she attracted the 
notice of a wealthy merchant, and lured him to her room. She secured his clothing 
and threatened him with exposure if he did not comply with her demands. He sur- 
rendered, filled out a check for $10,000, which was handed to her confederate, Kate, 
who went straightway to the bank. It happened that his account fell short of the 
amount required, and Kate being questioned, grew alarmed and made known the 
whereabouts of the merchant, when a policeman being sent to the hotel, the plot was 
exposed. Sophie and Kate were arrested, but their intended victim refused to appear 
against them, and they were discharged. His money was saved, but his character was 
ruined, and the result was the breaking up of a happy home. She continued black- 
mailing people until February 6, 1883, when she was convicted at Ann Harbor, Mich., 
and sentenced to three years in the Detroit House of Correction for larceny, in con- 
nection with one of her schemes. Some months before that she made a daily practice 
of sitting on a horse-block in front of the residence of one of her Grand Rapids, Mich., 
victims, who was a very prominent man. He got rid of Mrs. Lyons by turning the 
hose on her, and pounding an unfortunate theatrical agent who espoused her quarrel. 

Sophie Levy was arrested again in New York City on June 2, 1886, charged by 
Koch & Sons, dry-goods dealers on Sixth Avenue, with the larceny of a piece of silk. 
She gave the name of Kate Wilson, and her identity was not established until the day 
of her trial (June 10, 1886), when she was convicted, and sentenced to six months in 
the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island. Of late she has become addicted to the opium 
habit. 

Sophie Elkins, an old-time shoplifter, is Sophie Levy's mother. She was 
sentenced to four years in State prison, in New York City on November 22, 1876, by 
Recorder Hackett, under the name of Julia Keller, for shoplifting. 

Sophie Levy's picture is a good one. It was taken in 1886. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 207 

129 
KATE R Y A N. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Seamstress. Married. Stout build. 
Height, 5 feet 3^ inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Dark brown hair, light hazel eyes, 
dark complexion. 

RECORD. 

Kate Ryan is an old New York pickpocket and shoplifter. She works parades 
and stores, and is known in Philadelphia and New York, and some of the Western 
cities. 

She was arrested in New York City on St. Patrick's day, March 17, 1876, charged 
with picking pockets during the parade. She was convicted and sentenced to four 
years in the penitentiary on March 28, 1876, by Recorder Hackett, in the Court of 
General Sessions. 

Kate has served time in State prison and in the penitentiary since the above. 

Her picture is a good one, taken in March, 1876. 



130 

MARY MACK, alias BOND, 

alias Brockey Annie. 

SNEAK AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION.' 
Twenty-five years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 2 inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Brown hair, hazel eyes, 
fair complexion. Very heavily pock-marked. Part of first joint of thumb off of right 
hand. 

RECORD. 

Mary Mack is one of a new gang of women shoplifters and pennyweight workers. 
She works with Nellie Barns, alias Bond, and Big Grace Daly. They have been 
traveling all over the Eastern States the last two years, and many a jeweler and dry 
goods merchant have cause to remember their visits. 

Mary was arrested in New York City on August 24, 1885, i" company of Nellie 
Barns and Grace Daly, coming out of O'Neill's dry goods store on Sixth Avenue. A 
ring was found upon her person, which was identified as having been stolen from the 



2o8 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

store. For this she was sentenced to six months in the penitentiary on Blackwell's 
Island on September 4, 1885. This woman, although young, is considered very clever, 
and is well worth knowing. Barns and Daly were discharged in this case. 
Her picture is an excellent one, taken in August, 1885. 



131 

LOUISE JOURDAN, alias BIGLOW, 

alias Darrigan, alias Little Louisa. 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in England. Married. Medium build. 
Height, 5 feet 3 inches. Weight, about 135 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes, dark 
complexion, round face. Is lady-like in manner and appearance. Wears good clothes. 

■RECORD. 

Louise Jourdan, alias Little Louise, is an expert female thief, well known in 
New York, Chicago, and all the principal cities in the United States as the wife of Big 
Tom Biglow, the burglar. She was born in England. Her father once kept a public-house 
in Manchester, England. She served a term in an English prison for larceny. Upon 
her release she went to Brazil as a companion of a wealthy Spanish lady. While in 
that country she stole all her mistress's diamonds, was arrested, convicted, and sentenced 
to receive forty lashes at the whipping-post, and was condemned to have the lower part 
of her right ear cut off. She wears her hair over her ears to cover this deformity. 

Louise afterwards appeared in New York City as the mistress of Billy Darrigan, a 
New York pickpocket. She was arrested for shoplifting at A. T. Stewart's dry goods- 
store, and sent to -Blackwell's Island. After her release she operated in Boston, 
Philadelphia, and other cities. 

She was married several times after leaving Darrigan ; first to Tom McCormack, 
the bank burglar, who killed Jim Casey in New York, some years ago, while disputing 
over the proceeds of a robbery. After him, she took up with Aleck Purple, an Eighth 
Ward, New York, pickpocket ; then with Dan Kelly, who was convicted and sentenced 
to twenty years in State prison for a masked burglary, with Patsey Conroy and others. 
After that she lived with a well-known New York sporting man, and finally married 
Big Tom Biglow, and has been working the country with him since. She has been in 
several State prisons and penitentiaries in America, and is considered one of the 
smartest female pickpockets in this country. 

Louise Jourdan was arrested again in Cincinnati, Ohio, under the name of Mary 
Johnson, on May 19, 1886, in company of Sarah Johnson, a tall, blonde woman, charged 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 209 

with picking the pocket of a woman named Kate Thompson of $90, in one of the 
horse-cars. They both gave bail in $1,000, and at last accounts the case had not been 
disposed of. 

Her picture is an excellent one. 



132 

KATE ARMSTRONG, alias MARY ANN DOWD, 

alias Dillon, alias Sanders. 
PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in England. Married. Cook. Stout build. 
Height, 5 feet 2^ inches. Weight, 200 pounds. Dark brown hair, hazel eyes, florid 
complexion. Wears gold eye-glasses. Has a large space between upper 'front teeth. 
Vaccination mark on left arm. 

RECORD. 

Mary Ann Dowd (right name Catharine Armstrong) is a very clever woman. 
She was arrested in the spring of 1876, during Moody and Sankey's revivals, in Madison 
Square Garden, in New York City, for picking a lady's pocket, and sent to Sing Sing 
for two years. 

She was arrested again in Providence, R. I., on May 14, 1878, and sentenced to 
two years in State prison in June of the same year, for picking a woman's pocket on 
the street. 

After her time expired in Providence she went West, and visited Chicago (111.) and 
St. Louis. Mrs. Dowd generally works alone, and confines herself principally to opening 
hand-bags, or stealing them. Her operations have been greatly aided by her respectable 
appearance and her perfect self-control. 

She was arrested in New York City on October 20, 1884, charged with the larceny 
of a diamond, sapphire and pearl bar-pin, valued at $250, from the jewelry store of 
Tiffany & Co., New York, on July 7, 1884. The pin was found on her person, with 
the diamond removed and a ruby set in its place. For this she was tried by a jury, 
convicted, and sentenced to five years in State prison. She obtained a new trial in this 
case, which resulted in her discharge by Judge Cowing, on December 18, 1884. 

She was arrested again in Philadelphia, Pa., at Wannemaker's grand depot, in 
company of Harry Busby (135), on November 3, 1885, for picking pockets. Busby 
was discharged and Mary Ann was convicted, and sentenced to two years and six 
months in the Eastern Penitentiary on November 11, 1885. 

Her sentence will expire on September 11, 1887. 

Mrs. Armstrong's, or Dowd's, picture is a good one, taken in November, 1885. 



2IO PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

133 

PATRICK MARTIN, alias ENGLISH PADDY, 

alias Frank Hilton. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-nine years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Single. Laborer. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 148 pounds. Light hair, blue eyes, sandy 
complexion. 

RECORD. 

Paddy Martin, or English Paddy, is an English thief. He has been traveling 
through the country with a gang of Bowery (New York) pickpockets, and is considered 
a pretty clever man. 

He was arrested in New York City on June 19, 1885, in company of another 
pickpocket, named Frank Mitchell, for an attempt to pick a man's pocket on Bowling 
Green, near the Battery, New York. Both of them were sentenced to one month in 
the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, by Justice Duffy, on June 20, 1885. 

Paddy was arrested again in Jersey City, N. J., on December 12, 1885, in the act 
of robbing a Mrs. Margaret Peters, of Montgomery Street, Jersey City, on a 
Pennsylvania ferry-boat. He tried to make her believe that he mistook her for his 
wife, and offered her ten dollars to release him. She rejected his overtures, and held 
on to him until a policeman arrived. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to 
three years and six months in Trenton State prison on December 14, 1885, under the 
name of Frank Hilton. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in June, 1885. 



134 

TERRENCE MURPHY, alias POODLE MURPHY. 

alias Robinson. 
PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-seven years old in 1886. Born in Albany, N. Y. Married. Slim build. 
Height, five feet 7 inches. Weight, 135 pounds. Hair, auburn, slightly mixed with 
gray ; blue eyes, light complexion. Can grow a full red beard quickly. 



133 



134 



135 




PADDY MARTIN, 

ALIAS ENGLISH PADDY, 
PICKPOCKET. 



TERRANCE MURPHY, 

ALIAS POODLE MURPHY, 

PICKPOCKET, 



HARRY BUSBY, 

ALIAS MITCHELL, 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOP LIFTER. 



136 



137 



138 



mm i 






^^'i^'^B 




^kr: ■ ■ '.'^Mte^ ^^^ --t^ 








TIMOTHY OATS, 

ALIAS CLARK, 
PICKPOCKET. 



JAMES LAWSOPJ, 

ALIAS NIBBS, 

PICKPOCKET, 



GEORGE MILLIARD, 

ALIAS MILLER, 
PICKPOCKET. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 211 

RECORD. 

"Poodle Murphy" is the most notorious and successful pickpocket in America. 
He is well known in every city in the United States as the leader of a Bowery (New 
York) gang of pickpockets. He is an associate of James Wilson, alias Pretty Jimmie 
(143), Dick Morris, alias Big Dick (141), Charley Allen, Aleck Evans, alias Aleck the 
Milkman (160), Johnny Williams (149), Joe Gorman (146), Jim Casey (91), Nigger 
Baker (195), Tom Burns (148), and others. 

Murphy and Charley Woods were arrested in New York City on July 20, 1881, 
and delivered to the police authorities of Philadelphia, charged with robbing ex-Secretary 
of the Navy Robeson of a watch, on a railroad car in that city. After several days had 
been set for the trial, and as many adjournments obtained, the Secretary became tired 
and abandoned the case, and the thieves were once more given their liberty on 
September 30, .1881. 

Murphy is without doubt the smartest pickpocket in America. He is the man who 
does the work, while his confederates annoy the victim and attract his attention. This 
is what is called " stalling." He has been arrested in every large city in the Union, but 
never sent to a State prison before. 

He was arrested in Philadelphia on January 16, 1885, in company of James Wilson, 
alias Pretty Jimmie (143), another notorious pickpocket, charged with robbing one 
Shadrach Raleigh, of Delaware, of $526 in money and $3,300 in notes, etc., on a 
Columbia Avenue car in that city, on December 24, 1884. For this he was sentenced 
to three years in the Eastern Penitentiary, on March 16, 1885. There were four other 
■charges against him at the time, but they were not tried. 

Pretty Jimmie, his partner, was also sent to the penitentiary for two years and six 
months the same day. 

Poodle's picture is an excellent one, although somewhat drawn. It was taken in 
January, 1885. 



135 

HARRY BUSBY, alias WILLIAMS, 
alias Mitchell. 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in London, England. Married. House- 
painter. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 170 pounds. Hair black, 
mixed with gray; brown eyes, round face, ruddy complexion. Marks on face and neck 
from skin disease. Short, pug nose. Has quite an English accent. 



212 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

Busby is a well known Eastern pickpocket, and husband of Mary Busby (126), 
one of the cleverest women in America in her line. He is known in all the principal 
cities in the United States and in Montreal, Canada, 

He was arrested in New York City and sentenced to two years and six months in 
Sing Sing prison, under the name of Henry Williams, on May 19, 1873, for an attempt 
at grand larceny, by Judge Sutherland. 

He was arrested again in New York, on January 26, 1877, in company of John 
Anderson, another pickpocket, charged with robbing one Wm. Smyth of a pocket-book 
on a Fourth Avenue car, on January 22. They were discharged, as the complainant 
failed to identify them. 

Harry was arrested in Washington Market, New York, with Mary Kelly, as 
suspicious characters, on March 27, 1886, and discharged by a Police Justice. 

Busby's picture is an excellent one, taken in Philadelphia, Pa., where he has also 
served a term in the penitentiary. 



136 

TIMOTHY OATS, alias TIM OATS, 

alias Clark. 
PICKPOCKET AND SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Speculator. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 85^ inches. Weight, 198 pounds. Sandy hair, blue eyes, 
sandy complexion. Generally wears a light-colored mustache. 

RECORD. 

Tim Oats is an old New York panel thief and pickpocket. He was arrested in 
New York City in 1874, with his wife Addie Clark, charged with robbing a man by the 
panel game. They escaped conviction on account of the complainant's departure from 
the city. 

He was arrested again in New York City, under the name of Timothy Ryan, 
charged with robbing William Vogel, on July 30, 1875, of ^ diamond stud valued at 
$200, while riding on an East Broadway railroad car. He was tried, convicted and 
sentenced to four years in Sing Sing prison, on September 17, 1875, by Recorder 
Hackett. 

Tim was arrested again in New York City, under the name of Timothy Clark, on 
January 11, 1879, '^^ company of James Moran, whose name is Tommy Matthews (156),, 
charged with robbing a man named Michael Jobin, of Mount Vernon, N. Y., of $200,. 
on a Third Avenue horse-car. Both were committed in default of $5,000 bail for trial. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 213 

by Judge Murray. They pleaded guilty to larceny from the person and were sentenced 
to two years in the penitentiary on February 6, 1879, t>y Judge Gildersleeve. 

Tim Oats, Theodore Wiley (171) and William Brown, alias Wm. H. Russell, alias 
"The Student," were arrested at Syracuse, N. Y., on January 4, 1883, charged with 
grand larceny. They stole a tin cash-box from behind a saloon bar, containing $250, the 
property of Seiter Brothers, No. 99 North Salina Street, Syracuse. Two other people 
were with the above party but escaped. Oats played the "fit act" in the back room, 
kicking over chairs and tables. The proprietor and all the parties in the store ran into 
the back room to help the "poor fellow," when one of the party sneaked behind the 
bar and stole the cash-box. 

Tim Oats gave the name of Charles Oats, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 
two years' imprisonment in Auburn State prison, on March i, 1883. His sentence 
expired November i, 1885. 

"The." Wiley gave the name of George Davis, alias George Marsh, and was tried 
and convicted also. (See No. 171.) 

Brown, alias Russell, alias "The Student," pleaded guilty in this case and was 
sentenced to five years in Auburn prison, on March i, 1883. 

Oats's picture is a very good one, taken in January, 1879. 



137 

JAMES LAWSON, alias "NIBBS," 
alias *' NiBSEY." 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-three years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Single. No trade. Stout build. 
Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, about 160 pounds. Black hair, gray eyes, dark com- 
plexion ; generally wears a full black beard. Has a vaccination mark on his right arm. 

RECORD. 

" NiBBS " is an old-time Bowery, New York, pickpocket ; he is as well known in 
Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston as he is in New York. He has been arrested in 
almost every large city in the Union, and is considered a clever thief. He travels 
all over the country, and can generally be seen with some of the local thieves. He is 
an impudent fellow, and wants to be taken in hand at once. 

He was arrested in New York City for attempting to pick pockets, and was 
sentenced to one year in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, on March 18, 1875. 

He was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 24, 1876, charged with picking a 
man's pocket ; his picture was taken, and he was discharged. 

He was arrested again in Jersey City, N. J., on December 20, 1876, charged with 
robbing a German farmer of his pocket-book and money in the Pennsylvania Railroad 



214 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

depot. When searched at Police Headquarters, a kid glove was found in his pocket ; 
in the finger of the glove was a large and beautiful diamond, valued at $i,ooo. In his 
vest pocket was found the setting of the stone, a stud for a shirt front. It was 
advertised, and turned out to be the property of Captain Wilgus, of Lexington, Ky., 
who had been robbed of the stone by a mob of pickpockets while getting on a train in 
Louisville, Ky. 

" Nibbs " was -convicted of robbing the German in the depot, and sentenced to five 
years in Trenton, N. J., State prison, on January 27, 1877. 

He was arrested again in New York City on February 11, 1882, for robbing a man 
on a Grand Street horse-car of his pocket-book. For this he was sentenced to three 
years and six months in Sing Sing prison, on March 8, 1882. 

Lawson is now at large. 

" Nibbs's " picture is an excellent one, taken in 1876, 



138 
GEORGE MILLIARD, alias MILLER. 

BURGLAR AND PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-four years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Saloon keeper. 
Slim build. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 118 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes, 
light complexion, bald on front of head. Generally wears a full black beard. Has an 
anchor in India ink on right fore-arm. 

RECORD. 

Milliard is an old New York pickpocket, burglar, and receiver of stolen goods. 
He formerly kept a liquor saloon on the corner of Washington and Canal streets. New 
York, which was the resort of the most desperate gang of river thieves and masked 
burglars in America. 

Milliard was arrested in New York City on January 5, 1874, in company of John 
Burns, Big John Garvey (now dead), Dan Kelly, Matthew McGeary, Francis P. 
Dayton, Lawrence Griffin, and Patsey Conroy (now dead), charged with being 
implicated in several masked burglaries. One in New Rochelle, N. Y., on December 
23. 1873 I another at Catskill, on the Hudson River, on October 17, 1873, a"^d one on 
Staten Island, N. Y., in December, 1873, about a week after the New Rochelle robbery. 
The particular charge against Milliard was receiving stolen goods, part of the proceeds 
of these burglaries. He was tried in New York City, convicted, and sentenced to five 
years in Sing Sing prison on February 13, 1874. The other parties arrested with him 
at the time were disposed of as follows : 

Dan Kelly, Larry Griffin, and Patsey Conroy were each sentenced to twenty years 
in State prison for the New Rochelle burglary on February 20, 1874. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 215 

Burns was sentenced to sixteen years in State prison for the Catskill burglary 
on October 23, 1874. 

Big John Garvey (now dead) was sentenced to ten years in State prison in New 
York City on June 22, 1874. 

McGeary was discharged on January 13, 1874. 

Dayton was put under $1,000 bail for good behavior on January 13, 1874. 

Shang Campbell, John O'Donnell, John Orr (now dead), and Pugsey Hurley (88), 
were also arrested in connection with these burglaries, and sent to State prison. 

Since Milliard's discharge he has been traveling through the country picking pockets 
with Jimmie Lawson, alias " Nibbs " (137), and a Chicago thief named Williard. He 
is considered a first-class man, and is known in all the principal cities in the United 
States. He has been arrested several times, but manages to escape conviction. 

His picture is a good one, taken in August, 1885. 



139 
THOMAS FITZGERALD, alias TOM PHAIR. 



PICKPOCKET 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-nine years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Married. Carpenter. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 11 inches. Weight, about 200 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes, 
light complexion. Generally wears a sandy chin whisker and mustache. 

RECORD. 

"Big Tom Phair," the name he is best known by, is a clever thief, and generally 
works with his wife, Bridget Fitzgerald, an old Irish pickpocket, or some other woman, 
and can be found in the vicinity of funerals, ferry-boats, or churches. They are 
mean thieves, generally robbing poor women. 

Fitzgerald and his wife, and Mary Connors, were arrested in New York City on 
May I, 1873, charged with robbing a woman named Sophie Smith, on Broadway, of 
a pocket-book containing a quantity of checks and her husband's pension papers from 
the United States Government. Tom pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years 
and six months in State prison, on May 26, 1873. 

Bridget, his wife, was discharged. 

Mary Connors also pleaded guilty to an attempt at grand larceny, and was sen- 
tenced to one year and nine months in State prison, the same day, by Judge Sutherland. 

Fitzgerald and his wife were arrested again under the names of Tom and Sarah 
Thayer, on a Staten Island ferry-boat, at the Battery, New York, which was conveying 
the friends of the Garner family to Staten Island to attend the funeral of Wm. F. 
Garner. Mrs. Fitzgerald was again discharged. Tom was held under the Habitual 
Criminal Act, and sentenced to ninety days in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, 
on July 27, 1876. He was afterwards discharged on habeas corpus proceedings. 



2i6 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

He has been very lucky of late years. Although arrested several times, he man- 
ages to keep out of jail. 

His picture is a very good one, taken in November, 1875. 



140 
EDWARD TULLY, alias BROKEN-NOSE TULLY. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION 

Forty-one" years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Single. No trade. Stout build. 
Height, 5 feet 6^ inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Dark hair, gray eyes, dark com- 
plexion, broken nose. Rather large, long head. Wears a brown mustache. Easily 
recognized by his picture. Has an Irish brogue and face. 

RECORD. 

" Broken-Nose Tully " is an old and expert New York pickpocket, and is well 
known in every large city in the Union. He travels with the best people in the business, 
and is considered a clever pickpocket. He has a remarkable nose, vi^hich he claims 
always "gives him away." 

Tully was arrested in Philadelphia and sentenced to fourteen months in the East- 
ern Penitentiary, on June 29, 1880, for picking the pocket of a small boy of $83. 

He was arrested again in Boston, Mass., with Shinny McGuire (155), on July 16, 
1 88 1, awaiting an opportunity to do a "turn trick" in the Naverick National Bank, 
After getting a good showing up they were escorted out of town. 

He was arrested again in Lancaster, Pa., for picking pockets, and sentenced to 
eighteen months in the Eastern Penitentiary at Philadelphia, on November 18, 1884. 
He is now at large. 

Tully's picture is an excellent one, taken in Buffalo, N. Y. 



141 
RICHARD MORRIS, alias BIG DICK. 



PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION., 

Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Carpenter. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 10^ inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Brown hair, blue 
eyes, fair complexion. Generally wears a light-colored beard and mustache, inclined to 
be sandy. 



139 



140 



141 




THOMAS FITZGERALD, 

ALIAS TOM PHAIR. 

PICKPOCKET. 



EDWARD TULLY. 

ALIAS BROKEN NOSE TULLY 

PICKPOCKET. 



RICHARD MORRIS 

ALIAS BIG DICK. 

PICKPOCKET. 



142 



143 



144 




JAMES ANDERSON, 

ALIAS JIMMY THE KID, 

PICKPOCKET. 



JAMES WILSON, 

ALIAS PRETTY JIMMY 

PICKPOCKET. 



GEORGE HARRISON, 

ALIAS BOSTON and FRIDAY 

PICKPOCKET. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 21/ 

RECORD. 

" Big Dick " is a well known New York pickpocket. He works with Charles 
Douglas, alias Curly Charley; Poodle Murphy (134), Shang Campbell (107), James 
Wilson, alias Pretty Jimmie (143), and all the other good New York men. He has 
traveled all over the United States, and is well known in all the principal cities. Morris 
formerly kept a drinking saloon in New York that was a resort for nearly all the pick- 
pockets in America, but business fell off and he went back to his old business again. 

He was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to five years in Sing Sing prison, 
January 7, 1872, for larceny from the person, under the name of Richard Morris. 

He was arrested again in Albany, N. Y., by New York officers, and brought to 
New York City, where he pleaded guilty to grand larceny, and was sentenced to one 
year in the penitentiary on August 10, 1885, fqr stealing a coat from Rogers, Peet & 
Co., some months previously. He gave bail in this case, which he forfeited, and was 
subsequently re-arrested as above. 

Morris's picture is a good one, taken in October, 1877. 



142 

JAMES ANDERSON, alias JIMMIE THE KID, 

alias Evans. 



PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-three years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Married. Tailor. Medium 
build. Height, 6 feet. Weight, about 180 pounds. Hair black, turning gray; gray 
eyes, light complexion. Generally wears a sandy mustache. 

RECORD. 

"Jimmie the Kid" is a clever old New York thief. He has been traveling through 
the country for a number of years, and is well known in all the principal cities East and 
West. He is a great big rough fellow, and will get the money at any cost. 

He was arrested several times in New York, but never with a clear case against 
him until April 10, 1876, when he was arrested for robbing George W. Mantel, on one 
of the horse-cars, for which he was convicted, and sentenced to ten years in Sing Sing 
prison, on June 16, 1876, by Recorder Hackett, in the Court of General Sessions, 
New York His time expired on December 16, 1882. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in January, 1876. 



2l8 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

143 
JAMES WILSON, alias PRETTY JIMMIE. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in United States, Married. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Brown hair, hazel eyes, 
florid complexion. Has the following India ink marks on his person : a woman, in 
short dress, in red and blue ink, with bow and staff in hand, on right arm ; another 
woman, in short dress, holding in her left hand a flag, on which is a skull and cross- 
bones, on left arm ; anchor on back of left hand ; a shield between thumb and forefinger 

of left hand. 

RECORD. 

" Pretty Jimmie" is an old New York pickpocket, and partner of Terrence, alias 
Poodle Murphy (134). 

He was arrested in Montreal, Canada, during the Marquis of Lome celebration, 
with a gang of American pickpockets, from whom a box of stolen watches was taken. 
He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment there. 

He was arrested again in New York City, and pleaded guilty to an attempt at 
larceny from the person of Stephen B. Brague, and sentenced to one year in State 
prison, on July 12, 1875, by Judge Sutherland, under the name of James Anderson. 

Since 1876 Wilson and Murphy have robbed more people than any other four men 
in America. 

He was finally arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on January 16, 1885, with Poodle 
Murphy (134), charged with robbing one Shadrach Raleigh, of Delaware, of $526 in 
money and $3,300 in notes, etc., on a Columbia Avenue horse-car, on December 24, 
1884. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to two years and six months in the 
Eastern Penitentiary, on March 16, 1885. 

Murphy, his partner, who did the work, was sentenced to three years. 

There were four other charges against this team, which were not tried. 

His picture is a good one, taken in January, 1885. 



144 
GEORGE HARRISON, alias - BOSTON," 



alias " Friday." 
PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in Scotland. Single. Machinist. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, about 160 pounds. Black curly hair, gray 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 219 

eyes, light complexion. Generally wears a brown mustache. Had weak eyes. Has 
scar under right eye. 

RECORD. 

" Boston," the name he is best known by, is a well known New York pickpocket. 
He has been arrested in almost every large city in the Union. He is said to have 
served terms in prison in Philadelphia and Boston. When he first appeared in New 
York City he came from Boston, Mass., and the fraternity christened him after that city. 
He is not able to do much alone, but is considered an excellent "stall." He works 
sometimes with Jersey Jimmie (145), Charley Allen, and other New York pick- 
pockets. 

He was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to four years and six months 
in Sing Sing prison on November 8, 1882, under the name of George Wilson, for grand 
larceny from the person. His time expired, allowing him full commutation, on March 8, 
1886. 

" Boston's " picture is a good one, taken in 1876. 



145 
JAMES JOHNSON, alias JERSEY JIMMIE. 



PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-two years old in 1886. Born in New York. Married. No trade. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 4)^ inches. Weight, 1 70 pounds. Dark brown hair, gray eyes, 
florid complexion. Whiskers, when worn, are light brown. 

RECORD. 

"Jersey Jimmie" is one of the luckiest thieves in America. He is known from 
Maine to California, and has had the good fortune to escape State prison many a time. 
He works with Joe Gorman (146), Boston (144), Curly Charley, Big Dick (141), and 
nearly all the Bowery " mob " of New York, where he makes his home. 

He was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to six months in the peni- 
tentiary on Blackwell's Island, under the name of James Johnson, on April 22, 1869, 
for an attempt to pick pockets. 

He was sentenced again to one year in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, on 
February 7, 1878, for picking pockets, and pardoned by Governor Robinson on May 8, 
1878. 

Since then he has been arrested in almost every city in the Union, but his usual 
good luck stands to him, and he succeeds in obtaining his discharge. 

Johnson's picture is an excellent one, taken in August, 1885. 



220 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

146 

JOSEPH GORMAN, alias CLIFFORD, 

alias Brown. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-seven years old in 1886. Born in New York. Married. Carpenter. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, about 130 pounds. Sandy hair, 
blue eyes, small nose, thin face, light complexion. Has letter " J." in India ink on left 
fore-arm ; dot of ink on left hand. 

RECORD. 

Joe Gorman is a very clever pickpocket. He generally does the work. He is 
well known in all the large cities of the Union, and is as likely to be found, with two 
or three other clever men, in Maine or California, as he is in New York, working the 
cars, fairs, conventions, or any crowded place. He comes of a family that is criminally 
inclined, as he has two brothers, Tom, a sneak and till-tapper, and John, a clever 
general thief. Joe was born in New York, and makes it his home. Although arrested 
several times of late years he has escaped State prison. He is one of the smartest 
pickpockets in America, and a man well worth knowing. 

He was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment in Auburn prison, from New York 
City, several years ago, for highway robbery, and was pardoned after serving six years. 

Gorman's picture is a very good one, taken in September, 1885. 



147 

DENNIS CARROLL, alias WILLIAM THOMPSON, 

alias Big Slim. 
BURGLAR AND PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Born in United States. Single. No trade. 
Slim build. Height, 5 feet 11 inches. Weight, about 150 pounds. Dark hair, dark 
eyes, quite weak; dark complexion. Generally wears a light, thin mustache. Slightly 
pitted with pock-marks. 

RECORD. 
" Big Slim," the name he is best known by, is a Chicago thief, and was formerly a 
partner of Joe Parish (84). He is a bold, desperate thief, having shot an officer out 



145 



146 



147 




JAMES JOHNSON, 

ALIAS JERSEY JIMMY, 
PICKPOCKET. 




JOSEPH GORMAN, 

ALIAS CLIFFORD, 

PICKPOCKET. 



DENNIS CARROLL, 

ALIAS THOMPSON— BIG SLIM, 

BURGLAR. 



148 



149 



150 





'^^^ 



^~ii'. ^.V ?<£ -'^j. " -^ *«■ •^•' ' 

THOMAS BURNS, 

ALIAS COMBO — HAMILTON, 

PICKPOCKET. 



JOHN WILLIAMS, 
PICKPOCKET AND SHOP LIFTER. 



JAMES WELLS, 

ALIAS FUNERAL WELLS, 

PICKPOCKET. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 221 

West who was trying to arrest him and Parish for picking pockets in one of the towns 
that ex-President Garfield's body passed through. 

He came East four or five years ago, and has been working the country with 
Johnny Dobbs and his gang. 

He was arrested in Lawrence, Mass., on March 3, 1884, in company of Johnny 
Dobbs (64), Thos. McCarty, alias Day (87), and Frederick P. Grey (73). Carroll, or 
Thompson, is the man that did the shooting. (See record of No. 64.) 

Carroll and Dobbs pleaded guilty and were sentenced to ten years each, on June 9, 
1884. Carroll was pardoned on September 23, 1885, by Governor Robinson, of Massa- 
chusetts. It was claimed that he was suffering from an incurable disease. His health 
returned, however, upon his release. When last seen he was in New York City, 
apparently as well as ever. (See record of No. 87.) 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1884. 



148 

THOMAS BURNS, alias COMBO, 

alias Hamilton. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION 
Forty-nine years of age in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 10^ inches. Weight, 165 pounds. Black hair, brown 
eyes, dark complexion. Has scar on forehead ; mole on right cheek. Generally wears 
a black beard, turning gray. 

RECORD. 

"Combo" is a well known New York pickpocket. He works with "Jersey 
Jimmie" (145), "Nigger" Baker (195), "Curly Charley," Dick Morris (141), "Aleck 
the Milkman " (160), and the best people in the cities he visits. He was considered second 
to none in the business ; but of late years he has fallen back, and does only " stalling," 
on account of his love for liquor. He is pretty well known in Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
New York, Boston and Chicago, and, in fact, in almost all the large cities in the States. 

He was arrested in New York City, for the larceny of a watch from one Lawson 
Valentine, on a Sixth Avenue horse-car, on February 8, 1875. He was tried, found 
guilty, and sentenced to four years in State prison, on March 9, 1875, under the name 
of Thomas Hamilton, by Judge Sutherland. 

Combo was again arrested, at the Grand Central Railroad depot in New York City, 
on November 24, 1885, in an attempt to ply his vocation. He was sentenced to one 
year in the penitentiary on December i, 1885, in the Court of Special Sessions, New 
York. 

Burns's picture is an excellent one, taken in November, 1885. 



222 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

149 
JOHN WILLIAMS. 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-five years old in 1 886. Born in New York. Single. Jeweler. Slim build. 
Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, about 140 pounds. Black hair, gray eyes, light 
complexion. Generally wears a light brown mustache. 

RECORD. 

Johnny Williams is a very clever New York pickpocket and shoplifter. He is 
also well known in every Important city in the United States. He is an associate of 
Poodle Murphy (134), Tim Oats (136), Nibbs (137), Big Dick Morris (141), Pretty 
Jimmie (143), Boston (144), Jersey Jimmie (145), Joe Gorman (146), and all the clever 
people. He is credited with purchasing almost everything that the New York 
thieves steal. Since his return from State prison he has been traveling around the 
country with a gang of pickpockets, and although arrested several times, he manages 
to keep out of State prison. He is now keeping a jewelry store on Sixth Avenue, New 
York City. 

He was arrested in New York City on April i, 1876, in company of John Meyers, 
charged with stealing a roll of cloth from the store of Albert Schichts, No. 88 Greenwich 
Street, New York City. 

Meyers and Williams both pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to five years each in 
State prison, by Judge Gildersleeve, on June 5, 1876. There were three other cases 
against these people, at this time, which were not prosecuted. 

Williams's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1876. 



150 
JAMES WELLS, alias "FUNERAL WELLS." 



PICKPOCKET 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-four years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 9^ inches. Weight, 145 pounds. Gray hair, gray eyes, light 
complexion. Generally wears a full beard, light color. His eyes are small, weak and 
sunken. 

RECORD. 

"Funeral Wells" is an old and expert New York pickpocket. His particular 
line is picking pockets at a funeral, with a woman. The woman generally does the 



PROFESSWNAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 223 

work and passes what she gets to Wells, who makes away with it, the woman remaining 
behind a little time to give him a chance to escape. 

Wells has served a term in Sing Sing prison and in the penitentiary on Blackwell's 
Island, New York, and is known in all the principal cities. He has been traveling 
through the country lately (1886) with Billy Peck (157), and Jimmy Murphy, two other 
New York pickpockets, working the fairs, churches, etc. 

He was arrfested in New York City on April 3, 1880, charged with having attempted 
to rob one Ambrose P. Beekman, a merchant, residing in Jersey City, N. J., while the 
latter was riding on a cross-town horse-car. The complainant was unable to identify 
him, and he was discharged. 

Wells was arrested again in New York City, on June 19, 1885, under the name of 
James Hayden, in company of James McKitterick, alias "Oyster Jim," and sentenced 
to three months each in the penitentiary, on June 30, 1885, in the Court of Special 
Sessions, for an assault with intent to steal as pickpockets. 

McKitterick is a hotel and sleeping-car thief, pickpocket, and banco man. His 
home is in Hudson, N. Y. He is a great fancier of dogs and fighting cocks. Some- 
times he has a full beard, and again a smooth face ; at other times, chin whiskers. He 
was arrested in Schenectady in 1883, tried in Albany for picking pockets, and settled 
the matter by paying a fine of $800. He has been the counsel and adviser of thieves 
for years, and has been what is termed a "steerer." For a partner he has had James, 
alias " Shang" Campbell, Thomas Hammill, Funeral Wells, Peck, alias Peck's Bad Boy, 
and others of note. He was arrested some years ago in Brooklyn, N. Y., for picking a 
man's pocket. A Brooklyn judge who met him on the steamer for Florida identified 
him as his gentleman companion, and he was discharged. Soon after the close of the 
war, on the Mississippi he robbed a woman of $1,700. She demanded a search of all 
on the steamer. Jim had been so kind and attentive to her that he was not searched. 
A short time ago he was stakeholder for a dog fight in Boston to the amount of $300, 
and made off with the funds. 

He took $1,000 worth of bonds from a gentleman in Philadelphia in 1868. His 
first experience in the East was when the Ball robbery was committed in Holyoke, 
Mass. He was in it, and was the principal. 

He, with another, about two years ago, followed a well known lady of Springfield 
from New Haven to her home for the purpose of stealing her sealskin cloak. The 
theft was left to his partner, who failed for want of heart to do his work. This noted 
thief has been known in New York and all the principal cities of the United States 
under fifty different names. About two years ago, at Bridgeport, Conn., he was on a 
wharf to see an excursion party land from a steamboat. A man fell in the dock. A 
policeman standing on the edge of the wharf helped to get the man up. Jim, for fear 
he might fall into the dock again, kindly put his arms around him to hold him, and 
robbed him of his watch and eight dollars in money. 

In 1880, when the Armstrong walk occurred on the Manhattan Athletic grounds, 
New York City, Jimmy was stakeholder for $480 wagered on the event. Jimmy 
"welshed," and the winners never saw the color of their money. 

Wells's picture is an excellent one, taken in December, 1885. 



2 24 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

151 
OSCAR BURNS, alias JOHN L. HARLEY. 

PICKPOCKET AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Cigar maker. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 162 pounds. Dark brown hair, brown 
eyes, dark complexion, heavy nose-lines. Generally wears a heavy brown mustache. 
Looks like a man that dissipates. Has a pearl in his right eye. 

RECORD. 

Oscar Burns is well known all over the United States. He is known out West 
as a "stall" and "hoister" — a Western term for a shoplifter. He works with Jim 
Barton, who is well known in Boston and Medford, Mass. They were both arrested in 
Springfield, Mass., for burglary. Burns gave bail, which was forfeited, and Barton was 
discharged from custody in February, 1881. 

Burns was arrested again in New York City, on December 23, 1881, for a burglary 
committed in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was delivered to the Michigan officers, 
taken there, and pleaded guilty to the crime, and was sentenced to ten years in State 
prison on December 29, 1881, by Judge Parrish, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. See 
Michigan Commutation Law for expiration of sentence. 

Burns's picture is an excellent one, taken in Buffalo, N. Y. 



152 

ABRAHAM GREENTHAL, alias GENERAL 

GREENTHAL, 

alias Meyers. 
PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Sixty years old in 1886. Jew, born in Poland. Calls himself a German. Widower. 
No trade. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 85^ inches. Weight, about 185 pounds. Dark 
hair, turning quite gray. Prominent nose-lines ; mole near one of them. Beard, when 
grown, is a sandy gray. Generally has a smooth face. 

RECORD. 

" General" Greenthal is known all over the United States as the leader of the 
" Sheeny mob." He is acknowledged to be one of the most expert pickpockets in 



151 



152 



153 




OSCAR BURNS, 

ALIAS JOHN L. HARLEY, 

PICKPOCKET AND BURGLAR. 



ABRAHAM GREENTHAL, 

ALIAS GENERAL GREENTHAL, 
PICKPOCKET. 



HERMAN GREENTHAL. 

ALIAS HARRIS GREENTHAL, 

PICKPOCKET, 



154 



155 



156 




JAMES PRICE, 
PICKPOCKET 



JOHN F. McGUIRE, 

ALIAS SHINNY McGUIRE, 
PICKPOCKET. 



TOMMY MATTHEWS. 
PICKPOCKET. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 225 

America. His home is in the Tenth Ward in New York City, and he has been a thief 
and receiver of stolen goods for the last thirty years. He has served time in several 
prisons and penitentiaries, but has generally obtained his release before his sentence 
expired. He is a clever thief, and will fight when forced to. 

The "General" was arrested in Rochester, N. Y., on March i, 1877, in company 
of his brother, Harris, and Samuel Casper, his son-in-law, for robbing a man (see record 
of No. 153), and sentenced on April 19, 1877, to twenty years in Auburn, N. Y., State 
prison. He was pardoned in the spring of 1884 by Governor Cleveland. 

He was arrested again in Brooklyn, N. Y., on December 30, 1885, in company of 
Bendick Gaetz, alias " The Cockroach," for robbing Robert B. Dibble, of Williamsburg, 
N. Y., of a pocket-book containing $795 in money, on a cross-town horse-car in that 
city. The " General " pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the second degree, on March 
23, 1886, and was sentenced to five years in Crow Hill prison by Judge Moore, in the 
Brooklyn Court of Sessions. 

The " General " is an old friend of Mrs. Mandelbaum, who is now in Canada. 

Greenthal's picture is a splendid one, taken in March, 1877. 



153 

HARRIS GREENTHAL, alias HERMAN 
GREENTHAL, 

alias Brown. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-eight years old in 1886. Jew, born in Poland. Married. No trade. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 5 inches. Weight, about 150 pounds. Brown curly hair, turning 
quite gray ; brown and gray whiskers, high forehead. 

RECORD. 

Harris Greenthal, a brother of the " General's " (152), is also an old New York 
thief and member of the "Sheeny gang" of pickpockets, who have been traveling 
through the country robbing people for a number of years. He resides in New York 
City, and is well known in all the principal cities in the United States and Canada. 

Harris Greenthal, ahas Brown, the " General," alias Meyers, and Samuel Casper, the 
"General's" son-in-law, were arrested in Rochester, N. Y., on March i, 1877, charged 
with robbing William Jinkson of $1,190 in money, at the Central Railroad depot. 
Jinkson was a farmer who sold his farm in Massachusetts, and with the proceeds had 
started West. The " Sheeny gang " had seen him showing his money in Albany, 
N. Y., and had followed him from that city. At the Central depot in Rochester they 
told him he would have to change cars. One of the trio took his valise, and the entire 



2 26 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

party entered another car. In jostling through the crowd the " General " relieved 
Jinkson of his pocket-book containing the money, which was in bills. They escaped, 
but were arrested about an hour afterwards. They were indicted, tried, and convicted. 

The " General," alias Meyers, was sentenced on April 19, 1877, to twenty years at 
hard labor in Auburn, N. Y., State prison. Harris Greenthal, alias Brown, received a 
sentence of eighteen years, and Casper fifteen years. 

Harris and Casper were pardoned by Governor Cleveland in December, 1884, 
the " General" having been pardoned some months before. (See record of No. 84.) 

Harris's picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1877. 



154 
JAMES PRICE, alias JIMMY PRICE. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in New York. Married. No trade. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 170 pounds. Brown hair, dark eyes, thick 
nose, dark complexion. 

RECORD. 

Jimmy Price is an old New York pickpocket. He has been a " Moll Buzzer" (one 
who picks a woman's pocket) ever since he was a boy, and confines himself generally 
to that particular branch of the business. This big, lazy thief has sent many a poor 
woman home minus her few hard-earned dollars, after her visit to a crowded market, fair, 
or railroad car. He is a brother of Tommy Price, alias " Deafy " Price, the pickpocket 
(158), and Johnny Price, the bank sneak. (See record of No. 9.) He is well known 
in all the principal cities in the United States and Canada. He has served terms in 
Sing Sing prison and on Blackwell's Island. 

He was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to one year in Sing Sing prison, 
on October 20, 1876, under the name of William A. Hoyt, for grand larceny from the 
person. Since then he has done service for several States, and is now at large. 

Price's picture is not so good as it might have been, on account of some difficulty 
he had with the officer, at the time of his arrest, in 1877. 



165 
JOHN McGUIRE, alias SHINNY McGUIRE. 

SNEAK AND PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-four years old in 1886. Born in New York. Married. No trade. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, about 145 pounds. Black hair, gray eyes. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 227 

ruddy complexion. Has letter " F " in India ink on left arm. Generally wears a dark 
brown beard. 

RECORD. 

" Shinny " McGuire is considered one of the cleverest pickpockets in America. 
Tom Davis, the sawdust swindler, who was shot and killed in New York on August 31, 
1885, by T. J. Holland, of Abilena, Texas, married two of McGuire's sisters. He is an 
associate of Joe Gorman (146), Jersey Jimmie (145), Charley Allen, and several other 
New York pickpockets, and is well known in all the principal cities. 

He was arrested in New York City on October 11, 1878, charged with the larceny 
of a pocket-book from a man who had just left the Seaman's Savings Bank, corner of 
Pearl and Wall streets, and was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary on Black- 
well's Island, on July 2, 1879, by Recorder Hackett. 

He escaped from the penitentiary library, where he was engaged as librarian, on 
July I, 1879. He gave New York a wide berth, working the other cities, until Sep- 
tember 21, 1885, when he was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., and returned to Blackwell's 
Island to finish his unexpired time. 

He will be discharged on December 20, t886. 

McGuire's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1876. 



156 
THOS. MATTHEWS, alias TOMMY MATTHEWS. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION, 
Forty-seven years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Cooper by 
trade. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 5 inches. Weight, 133 pounds. Hair gray, 
eyes gray, nose a little flat, ruddy complexion. Generally wears a full, dark beard and 
mustache, turning very gray. 

RECORD. 

Tommy Matthews is an old and expert thief. He has been on the road for at 
least twenty years, and has served terms in a dozen prisons throughout the United 
States. He is known in all the large cities from Maine to Colorado, and although 
getting old, is quite clever yet. He generally associates with the best local talent, and 
is a very careful worker of late, preferring to lose a " trick" than to take any chances 
of going to State prison. 

Matthews was arrested in New York City, on January 11, 1879, in company of 
Tim Oats (136), charged with robbing a man named Michael Jobin of $200, on a Thjrd 
Avenue horse-car. Both were committed in $5,000 bail for trial. They pleaded guilty, 
and were sentenced to two years each in the penitentiary on February 6, 1879, by 
Judge Gildersleeve, in the Court of General Sessions. In this case he gave the name 
of James Moran. 



2 28 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Matthews was arrested again in New York City, under the name of Morgan, for 
picking pockets. He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to two years and six months in 
State prison at Sing Sing, on October 29, 1885, by Recorder Smyth. (See records of 
Nos. 136, 161.) 

Matthews' picture is a pretty good one, taken in January, 1879. 



157 
WILLIAM PECK, alias PECK'S BAD BOY, 

alias Parks. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-six years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. No trade. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 140 pounds. Dark brown hair, hazel eyes, 
light complexion. Has two moles, and two scars from burns, on his right arm. 
Generally wears a small brown mustache and side-whiskers. 

RECORD. 

Billy Peck is one of a new gang of pickpockets which are continually springing 
up in New York City. He is an associate of all the Bowery (New York) "mob" of 
pickpockets, and is considered a promising youth. He is known in Philadelphia, New 
York, Albany, Boston, and several other Eastern cities. With the exception of a short 
term in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, nothing is known about him, except that 
he is a professional thief. 

He was arrested in New York City on January 3, 1885, in company of another 
pickpocket, named William Davis, for attempting to pick pockets on one of the horse- 
cars. No complaint was obtained against him, and he was discharged, after his picture 
was taken for the Rogues' Gallery. 

He was arrested again in Albany, N. Y., in August, 1885, during Grant's obsequies, 
in company of a gang of New York pickpockets, locked up until after the funeral, and 
then discharged. 

He was arrested again in Boston, Mass., on December 21, 1885, i" company of 
James Wells, alias Funeral Wells (150), and Jimmie Murphy, two other New York 
pickpockets, attempting to ply their vocation in Mechanics' Hall, during one of Dr. W. 
W. Downs's sensational lectures. He was in luck again, for, after having their pictures 
taken, they were escorted to the train and ordered to leave town. 

This is a very clever thief, and may be looked for at any moment in any part of 
the country. 

He was arrested again in Hoboken, N. J., under the name of William Parker, on 
February 16, 1886, charged with attempting to pick a lady's hand-satchel, and sentenced 
to three months in jail there. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in December, 1885. 



157 



158 



159 




WILLIAM PECK, 

ALIAS PECK'S BAD BOY, 

PICKPOCKET. 



THOMAS PRICE, 

ALIAS DEAFY PRICE, 

PICKPOCKET. 



AUGUSTUS GREGORY, 
HOTEL THIEF. 



160 



161 



162 




■ALEXANDER EVANS, 

ALIAS ELECK THE MILKMAN, 

PICKPOCKET. 



FREDERICK LAUTHER, 

ALIAS WILSON, 

PICKPOCKET. 



WILLIAM BURKE, 

ALIAS BILLY THE KID, 

BANK SNEAK. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 229 

158 
THOMAS PRICE, alias " DEAFY PRICE." 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
About forty-four years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, about 150 pounds. Brown hair, 
dark eyes, sallow complexion, high forehead, an Irish expression, and is very deaf. 

RECORD. 

" Deafy Price" ought to be well known all over America, as he has been a thief 
for at least twenty-five years. He is one of the old Bowery gang of pickpockets, and 
an associate of Old Jim Casey, "Jimmy the Kid" (142), "Big Dick" Morris (141), 
"Pretty Jimmy" (143), " Jersey Jimmy" (145), "Combo" (148), "Nibbs" (137), 
"Funeral" Wells (150), and, in fact, all the old timers. He is a brother of Jimmy 
Price, the "Moll Buzzer" (154), and Johnny Price, the bank sneak. (See record of 
No. 9.) He is a saucy, impudent thief, and wants to be taken in hand at once. 

He was arrested in New York City and sent to the work-house on Blackwell's 
Island, N. Y., on July 3, 1866. 

He was arrested again in New York City, in company of another man who has 
since reformed, for an attempt to pick pockets, and sentenced to four months in the 
penitentiary, on October 17, 1866, by Judge Dodge. 

He was arrested in New York City again on July 21, 1875, charged with violently 
assaulting Samuel F. Clauser, of No. 38 East Fourth Street, New York, while that 
gentleman was walking down Broadway. He was placed on trial on July 27, 1875, i" 
the Court of Special Sessions, in the Tombs prison building, on a charge of assault 
with intent to steal, as a pickpocket. The evidence of the complainant was not strong 
enough to convict him of the intent to steal, and he was discharged. 

He was arrested again on September 8, 1876, in company of George Williams, 
alias " Western George " (now dead), at the Reading Railroad depot, near the 
Centennial Exhibition Grounds, in Philadelphia, Pa. They were taken inside the 
grounds, and sentenced to ninety days in the penitentiary on September 9, 1876, under 
a special law passed to protect visitors to the Exposition from professional thieves. 

He was arrested again in New York City on December 25, 1879, charged with 
attempting to rob one Marco Sala, an Italian gentleman, while riding on a horse-car. 
He was committed for trial by the police magistrate, and afterwards discharged by 
Judge Cowing, in the Court of General Sessions, on January 30, 1880. 

Price's picture is a good one, although taken fifteen years ago, in New York City. 



230 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

159 
AUGUSTUS GREGORY, alias GEO. SCHWENECKE. 

HOTEL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty years old in 1886. Born in United States, of German parents. Lived in 
New York. Single. No trade. Slim build. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 126 
pounds. Light-colored hair, light eyes, long nose, thin face, light complexion. 

RECORD. 

Gregory is a very clever boy. He was in prison in Colorado, and after he was 
liberated he worked all the hotels in all the principal cities from there to New York. 

The following is an interesting account of his doings in New York, clipped from 
one of the papers at the time : 

No Will-o'-the-wisp was ever more ubiquitous than a clever hotel sneak thief who for the past month 
has led the detective force such a dance that they were almost despairing of catching their game, when, by 
one of those mistakes which even the most experienced criminal sometimes makes, he gave the detectives 
the clue for which they were seeking, that led to his capture. 

The first intimation of the fellow's operations came on the 25th of September, 1884, through the 
proprietor of the Hoffman House, New York, one of whose guests had been robbed of $350 worth of 
jewelry, which had been taken from his room. The thief had entered and departed through the transom, 
but no one in the hotel had any idea who he could be. Three days later another robbery occurred at the 
hotel. A week afterward a similar robbery was committed at the St. Denis Hotel, where a guest lost $300 
worth of jewelry from his room. 

When Detective-Sergeants Lanthier, Mulvey and Wade went to the hotel, they learned that the only 
person whom they could suspect was a slim young man, dressed in rather dudish attire, who had been seen 
loitering about the hotel. Another complaint came on the 7th of October from the Murray Hill Hotel, 
where two guests had been robbed of $1,200 worth of jewelry by a sneak thief who had climbed through the 
transom. Again the detectives were puzzled ; but in the course of their inquiries they learned that a slim 
young man, who had registered under the name of Edward Sussey, had arrived the day before the robbery 
and left two days afterward. 

The next sufferer from the adroit thief's operations was the Park Avenue Hotel, where five rooms were 
ransacked one evening, and $1,500 worth of jewelry taken. Following this robbery came a complaint from 
the Rossmore Hotel, where a guest lost a small sum of money and a few articles of jewelry from his room, 
and on the 31st of October a guest at the Coleman House discovered that during his absence from his 
apartment a thief had entered and stolen two watches, one gold and the other platinum, worth $800. 

Brooklyn next enlisted the thief's attention, and the Pierrepont House and Mansion House guests 
found occasion to regret his visits. 

The Chief of Detectives, who had been visited by the irate hotel keepers bristling with indignation at the 
apparent inability of the detectives to catch the thief, tried vainly for a time to gain some clue to his 
identity. The slim young man who had been seen around nearly all the hotels robbed was, he thought, the 
culprit, as no one but a slight and muscular man could squeeze through some of the narrow transom 
windows which furnished the thief with the means of ingress and egress. 

There was no doubt of his cleverness, as well as the fact that he was an expert who would not readily 
fall into the ordinary traps of the thief catchers. Chance, the great ally of the detectives, threw them on 
the right scent. The platinum watch which he had stolen from the Coleman House was of so peculiar a 
character that a few days ago, when Detective-Sergeant Lanthier heard that one had been pledged, he at 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 231 

once went to the pawnbroker, and from a description in his possession he found that it was the identical 
watch for which he and his associates had been on the lookout. 

The pawnshop was watched, and on Saturday, November i, 1884, when a waiter in a Bowery saloon 
presented a ticket for the watch, he was interviewed by the officer. The man was frightened, and willingly 
pointed out a notorious Fourth Ward cyprian as the person from whom he had obtained the ticket. A close 
surveillance was kept upon the woman, who, it was found, was frequently in the company of a slim young 
man who passed by the name of White. 

Under the name of August Gregory the young man lived with his mother at No. 171 East Eighty- 
seventh Street. On Monday night, November 3, 1884, Detective-Sergeants Lanthier, Mulvey and Wade took 
the young man into custody and locked him up at police headquarters. 

When the detectives began to look up Gregory's antecedents they found that he was the son of a 
keeper of a Cherry Street, New York, sailor boarding-house, and, as a youth, had displayed pilfering pro- 
clivities. Four years before, when 17 years old, he went with his mother, who had left her husband, to 
Denver, Col. There he robbed his mother of $4,500, but was arrested before he had spent but a few 
hundred dollars of the money. He was not punished for the crime, and, emboldened by this, he began his 
career as a hotel sneak thief. He was lithe and muscular, and managed, by a course of gymnastic training, 
to be able to perform feats which an ordinary thief would hesitate at. 

Twice he was arrested, but for lack of evidence escaped free. The third time, however, he was 
convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment in Colorado. What he did not know about criminal 
ways he was not long in learning in jail, where he received his finishing lessons in thievery. 

In August, 1884, he was discharged from the Colorado prison, an accomplished thief, and came with 
his mother to New York City, where she hired apartments at No. 171 East Eighty-seventh Street. Not 
long after his arrival here he resumed his old ways, and found in the hotels a splendid field for his peculiar 
talent. His address and manner were prepossessing, and he had gathered a fund of knowledge about 
hotels that served him in good stead. As he freely confessed on his trial, he found the meal hours the best 
time for his operations, and while the guests were in the dining-room he would scale the transom and make 
his way into the vacant room. He was clever enough not to dispose of his booty in the shape in which he 
had stolen it, but would generally take out the stones in the jewels and sell them separately, and melt up 
the gold. 

Some articles, however, which he did not care to destroy thus, he sold in Philadelphia. He confessed 
everything to Inspector Byrnes, and gave information as to the whereabouts of a considerable amount of 
his booty. 

"Gus" Gregory, the swell hotel thief, was sentenced on November 17, 1884, in General Sessions, to 
ten years' hard labor at Sing Sing. Recorder Smyth made a few remarks on the occasion. Looking 
severely at the prisoner as he stood at the bar carelessly twirling his fashionable Derby hat, the Judge said : 

" You have a mother, young man, and I sympathize very deeply with her in having such a son. You 
are an unmitigated scoundrel, and employ yourself in cleaning out the various hotels of everything of value 
that you can lay your hands on. You have already served a term of imprisonment for stealing in the State 
of Colorado. You are wanted also in Wyoming Territory for burglary. Inside of seven or eight weeks you 
have robbed about ten hotels in New York and Brooklyn of considerable property, and you have made no 
effort toward restitution. You have the nature of a thief without a redeeming quality. I shall make an 
example of you in sending you to prison for ten years — the full term allowed by law." 

The prisoner is twenty years of age, slim in build and of gentlemanly appearance. He made no sign 
when he was sentenced, and took no notice of the burst of approval which came from the spectators. 
There were three indictments against him, two for burglary, on which he pleaded guilty, and one for grand 
larceny, which is still held over him. William A. Boyce, deputy warden of the Colorado State Penitentiary 
at Canyon City, wrote to Inspector Byrnes, and stated that "Gregory is one of the slickest sneak thieves 
that ever struck this country." His real name is George Schwenecke, and his aliases are many. Gregory 
had robbed guests at the Hoffman House, St. Denis, Park Avenue, Rossmore, and Murray Hill hotels in 
New York, and also at the Mansion House, Brooklyn. He secured in one haul from the Pierrepont House, 
Brooklyn, over $4,500 in diamonds. Altogether Gregory has stolen about $15,000 worth of jewelry from 
various hotels during his Eastern trip. 



232 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

The two complainants on the present indictments are Samuel B. Wellington, a broker, of Room 
No. 234 Coleman House, from whom the prisoner stole $800 worth of jewelry, and Claudia Guernsey, of 
Room No. 553 Park Avenue Hotel, from whom he stole about $400 worth. In both cases he entered the 
rooms of the guests with false keys. He is described on the record as a student. He is well educated, and 
has a most polite manner. On leaving the bar he bowed respectfully to the Court, and whispered, " Thank 
you." The police speak of him as an adroit, cunning rascal, who lives by his wits. When Gregory left the 
court he was handcuffed to a dirty, ferocious looking prisoner, who regarded his dainty, elegantly dressed 
companion with contempt. 

Gregory's picture is an excellent one, taken in November, 1884. 



160 

ALEX'R EVANS, alias ALECK THE MILKMAN, 

alias Charles Watson. 
PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Peddler. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 5^^ inches. Weight, 207 pounds. Brown hair, hazel 
eyes, florid complexion. Bald on front of head. 

RECORD. 

" Aleck The Milkman " is a professional thief, and one of the Bowery, New 
York, gang of pickpockets. He is known from Maine to California. He "stalls" 
generally, but is credited with being a clever "wire" (a term for one who actually picks 
the pocket). 

He has served terms in Sing Sing prison and Blackwell's Island, N. Y. 

His last arrest was in New York City, for an attempt at grand larceny, for which 
he was convicted and sentenced to two years and six months in State prison at Sing 
Sing, N. Y., on June 23, 1885, under the name of Charles H. Williamson. Evans' sen- 
tence will expire, allowing him full commutation, on April 23, 1887. 

Evans's oldest son, Geo. W. Evans, who, unlike his father,, is not a thief, was 
sentenced to fifteen years in State prison on January 22, 1886, for shooting and killing 
a negro named Thos. Currie in an altercation as to the janitorship of a flat house in 
West Twenty-first Street, on the night of January 30, 1885. 

His picture resembles him, although his eyes are closed. It was taken in April, 
1881. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

161 
FREDERICK LAUTHER, alias FREDDIE 

LOUTHER, 
alias F. R. Wilson, 

SNEAK AND PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 145 pounds. Dark hair, dark gray 
eyes, dark complexion. Generally wears a heavy sandy beard ; sometimes dyes it. 
Has numbers " 33 " in India ink on his left fore-arm. 

RECORD. 

Lauther is an old New York sneak thief and pickpocket. He formerly kept a 
drinking saloon in the Tenth Ward, New York City, which was the resort of a large 
number of the professional thieves in America. He is the husband of Big Mag Shaffer, 
a very clever old-time shoplifter and pickpocket. 

Lauther was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to Sing Sing prison for 
two years and six months on April 20, 1874, for grand larceny under the name of 
Robert Campbell. 

He was arrested again in Philadelphia, Pa., on February 21, 1878, under the name 
of Shaw, his picture taken, and discharged. 

Arrested again with George Milliard (138), and Tommy Matthews (156), in New 
York City, on the arrival of the Fall River steamer Newport, on April 12, 1879, ^O"" 
the larceny of a watch and $12 in money from Daniel Stein, during the passage from 
Boston to New York. So cleverly was the robbery committed that Judge Otterbourg 
was forced to discharge them. 

He was arrested and convicted in Harrisburg, Pa., in June, 1879. Again, on 
April 3, 1880, in Philadelphia, in company of Will Kennedy, for larceny from the 
person, and sentenced to eighteen months' solitary confinement in the Eastern Peni- 
tentiary. 

He has been arrested from time to time in almost every city in the Union. He 
has served terms in Sing Sing prison and the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, N. Y., 
and is a man well worth knowing. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in June, 1885. 



2 34 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

162 

WILLIAM BURKE, alias BILLY THE KID, 

alias Murphy, alias Petrie, etc. 
BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Twenty-eight years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Printer. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 6J^ inches. Weight, 140 pounds. Dark brown hair, dark 
gray eyes, straight nose, round face, florid complexion. Small ears. Upper lip turns 
up a little. Cross in India ink on his left hand, near thumb. Dot of ink on right hand, 
between thumb and forefinger. 

RECORD. 

" Billy the Kid " is one of the most adroit bank sneaks in America. He is now 
about twenty-eight years old, of pleasing address, and claims Chicago, 111., as his home. 
He is known in all the principal cities in America and in Canada. This young man is 
credited with being the nerviest bank sneak in the profession. He is an associate of 
Rufe Minor (i), Minnie Marks (187), Big Ed Rice (12), Georgie Carson (3), Johnny 
Jourdan (83), and several other clever men. He has been arrested one hundred times, at 
least, in as many different cities, and although young, has served terms in three prisons. 

At 12.30 p. M. on August I, 1 88 1, a carriage containing two men drove rapidly up 
to the Manufacturers' Bank at Cohoes, N. Y. At the same moment a man walked 
briskly into the bank, and toward the directors' room, in the rear. One of the men in 
the carriage jumped out, and entering the building, asked the cashier, N. J. Seymour, 
to change a $20 bill. While the change was being made the man at the rear of the 
bank forced the door of the directors' room and obtained entrance to the space behind 
the desk. He rushed up to the safe, the door of which stood open, and snatched a 
large pile of bills, done up in packages of $100 and $500 each, and amounting in all to 
over $10,000. James I. Clute, the discount clerk, who sat at the desk at the time, not 
more than ten feet from the safe, sprang from his seat, grasped a revolver, and followed 
the thief. The burglar was so quickly pursued that he dropped the packages of money 
in the directors' room. Clute kept after him, and tried to bar the w^ay at the door, 
when the thief pushed him aside and ran quickly down two or three streets, crossed the 
canal, and fled toward the woods. The thief who remained in the carriage drove 
furiously down the street, and the man who asked for the change meanwhile had left 
the bank. He met the carriage a short distance from the scene, jumped in, and was 
driven out of the city. The thief who fled toward the woods succeeded in eluding his 
pursuers, and shortly after entered the house of a Mrs. Algiers and took off his clothes 
and crawled under the bed. A man who was at work in a mill opposite the house saw 
the man's proceedings, and notified the police. The house was surrounded, and the 
intruder captured. A search of his clothing revealed a false mustache, a watch, $45 cash, 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 235 

two pocket-books, some strong cord, and other things. He was afterwards identified 
as Billy Burke. After remaining in jail some little time he was released on $10,000 bail. 

On September 9, 1881, an attempt was made to rob the vault of the Baltimore 
Savings Bank, in Baltimore, Md. Four men (no doubt Burke, Jourdan, Marks, and 
Big Rice) entered the treasurer's room, where were several customers of the bank, and 
one of them engaged the attention of the treasurer by asking him about investments, 
holding in his hands several United States bonds. Another then walked back toward 
the vault, in a rear apartment, but his movements were observed by one of the clerks, 
who followed and arrested him in front of the vault. The other three retreated hastily 
and escaped. 

The party arrested gave the name of Thomas Smith, but was recognized by the 
police as Billy Burke, alias " Billy the Kid." In this case, as at Cohoes, N. Y., he was 
bailed, went West, and was arrested in Cleveland on December 12, 1881, and delivered 
to the police authorities of Albany, N. Y., taken there, and placed in the Albany County 
jail, from where he escaped on January 7, 1882. A reward of $1,000 was offered at the 
time for his arrest. 

He was finally re-arrested at Minneapolis, Minn., on March 13, 1882, in an attempt 
to rob a bank there, but afterwards turned over to the Sheriff of Albany County, N. Y., 
taken there, tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment in the Albany 
Penitentiary by Judge Van Alstyne (for the Cohoes bank robbery), on March 31, 1882. 

He was tried again the same day for breaking jail, convicted, and sentenced to one 
year more, making six years in all. Burke was sentenced in this case under the name 
of John Petri e. 

His sentence expired on June 2, 1886. Warrants were lodged against him at the 
penitentiary some time previous from Lockport, N. Y., Detroit, and Baltimore. He 
was re-arrested, as soon as discharged, on the Lockport warrant, which, it is said, was 
obtained by his brother-in-law, for an alleged assault. The scheme was to prevent him 
from being taken to either Detroit or Baltimore, where there are clear cases against him. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in March, 1880. 



163 
BENJAMIN B. BAGLEY, alias BENTON BAGLEY. 

SNEAK THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Thirty-five years old in 1886. Born in the United States. Married. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 9^ inches. Weight, 153 pounds. Brown hair, gray 
eyes, dark complexion. Has scar on chin. Has a peculiar expression in one eye ; it is 
hardly a cast. 



236 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

Bagley is a very clever sneak thief. He works houses, churches, receptions and 
weddings, and is pretty well known in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and in the 
Eastern States generally. He starts out occasionally and travels South and West, and 
is liable to turn up anywhere. 

He was arrested in New York City, and sentenced to five years in Sing Sing 
prison, on February 21, 1872, under the name of Benton B. Bagley, for grand larceny. 
He has done service since. 

He was arrested again in New York City on January 22, 1883, in company of 
Frank Shortell (168), and John T. Sullivan, two other expert sneaks, for the larceny of 
a sealskin dolman, valued at $350, from the Church of the Incarnation, Thirty-fifth 
Street and Madison Avenue, during a wedding, on December 27, 1882. Bagley and 
Sullivan were discharged on January 30, 1883, and Shortell was sent to the Elmira 
reformatory, by Judge Cowing, on February 5, 1883. 

Bagley's picture is a good one, taken in January, 1883. 



164 
WESTLEY ALLEN, alias WESS. ALLEN. 

PICKPOCKET, SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-six years old in 1886. Born in New York. Widower. No trade. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weight, 155 pounds. Right eye gray, left eye out, 
and replaced at times by a glass one. He sometimes wears green goggles, or only a 
green patch over the left eye. Dark hair, mixed with gray ; sallow complexion. 
Generally wears a black mustache. Scar on left side of face. Has letters " W. A.," 
an anchor, and dots of India ink on left fore-arm. 

RECORD. 

" Wess." Allen is probably the most notorious criminal in America, and is well 
known all over the United States. He is a saucy, treacherous fellow, and requires to 
be watched closely, as he will use a pistol if an opportunity presents itself. 

Wess.'s brothers are Theodore Allen, well known as " The. Allen," a saloon 
keeper in New York, John Allen, a jeweler in New York, Martin Allen, a burglar, now 
in Sing Sing State prison, sentenced to ten years on November i, 1883, for burglary in 
New York City (a house robbery, second offense), and Jesse Allen, a burglar (now 
dead). 

Wess. has been a thief for many years, but has not served much time in prison. 



163 



164 



165 





BENJAMIN B. BAGLEY, 
GENERAL THIEF. 



WESLY ALLEN. 

ALIAS WES ALLEN, 

PICKPOCKET AND BURGLAR. 



JAMES BURNS, 

ALIAS BIG JIM, 

BANK SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



166 



167 



163 




JOHN RILEY, 

ALIAS MURPHY. 

SNEAK AND PICKPOCKET. 



EDWARD McGEE, 

ALIAS EDDIE McGEE, 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



THOMAS SHORTELL, 
GENERAL THIEF. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 237 

He was arrested in New York City for an attempt to break into a silk house, and 
sentenced to five years in Sing Sing prison, on July 7, 1873, under the name of Charles 
W. Allen. 

Since his release, in 1877, he has been arrested in almost every city in America, 
but always manages to escape conviction. The following are a few of his arrests since 
1880: 

He was arrested in New Haven, Conn., on January 29, 1880, in company of Wm. 
Brown, alias Burton, and James H. Johnson, at the Elliott House, whither they had 
followed Parnell and Dillon, the agitators. After a few days' detention he was 
discharged. 

He was discharged from custody at Reading, Pa., on April 14, 1880, where he was 
detained on five indictments for picking pockets at a fair there in the fall of 1879. 

He proved an alibi, and was acquitted by a jury in the Kings County Court of 
Sessions in Brooklyn, N. Y., on December 23, 1880. He was charged with picking the 
pocket of Thomas Rochford of his watch, on the night of October 29, 1880, near the 
City Hall in Brooklyn. 

He was arrested in New Haven, Conn., on August 30, 1883, for an attempt to 
pick the pocket of John McDermott on a railroad train. As usual, he was discharged. 

He was discharged from arrest in the Jefferson Market Police Court, New York 
City, on July 30, 1884. The complainant, Edward P. Shields, a barkeeper for Theodore 
Allen, Wess.'s brother, charged him with "jabbing two of his fingers in his left eye." 

He was arrested again in New York City, after a severe tussle, on September 13, 
1885, while attending the funeral of his wife, Amelia, on a warrant issued by Justice 
MulhoUand, of Syracuse, N. Y., charging him with grand larceny. He was delivered 
to a detective officer, who took him back to Syracuse, where he again escaped his just 
deserts. 

In November, 1885, two men of gentlemanly appearance called upon an Alleghany 
City, Pa., tailor named Rice, and were measured for some suits of clothing. " Send 
them C. O. D. to West Jefferson, Ohio, when they are finished," they said, and bowed 
themselves out, after giving their names as Fisher and Grimes. The clothes, valued at 
$146, were shipped by Adams Express a week later, and the night they arrived in .West 
Jefferson the express office was broken into and the clothing stolen. Fisher proved to 
be Wess. Allen. He had assumed his father-in-law's name, Martin Fisher, whose 
house in New York City was searched by the police, and they found three of the 
missing suits there and also some silk. Fisher and his wife were taken into custody as 
receivers of stolen goods, and subsequently discharged. The former is over seventy 
years old, and the latter only a few years younger. 

Allen could not be found, as from the latest accounts he had gone to England to 
try his fortune there. 

His picture is an excellent one, the best in existence, taken in March, 1880. 



238 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

165 

JAMES BURNS, alias BIG JIM, 
alias Boston Jim, alias Baker, alias James Boyle, alias John 

BowEN, alias Hawkins, etc. 
SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-six years old in 1886. Born in Boston, Mass. Single. No trade. A 
large, well-built man. Height, 5 feet 8^ inches. Weight, about 200 pounds. Brown 
hair, dark hazel eyes, dark complexion. Has fine spots of India ink between thumb 
and forefinger of left hand. Generally wears a sandy-brown mustache and whiskers. 

RECORD. 

Jim Burns, alias Big Jim, is a celebrated bank sneak, burglar and forger. He is a 
native of Boston, Mass., and is called by the fraternity " The Prince of Thieves," on 
account of his great liberality with his money, and the many charitable acts performed 
by him. It is a well known fact that he has always contributed to the support of the 
wives and families of his associates whenever they were in trouble. 

Some years ago, after a large and successful bank sneak robbery. Burns, and the 
others who were with him, returned to New York and went to their usual rendezvous, 
a saloon corner of Fourth Street and Broadway, New York, kept by one Dick Piatt. 
The entire party imbibed quite freely and Burns fell asleep. When he awoke he found 
that he had been robbed of his portion of the plunder. On being informed by one of 
his companions who had done it, Burns said, " It was hard, that after doing a lot of 
work, and getting a good lump of money, to have an associate rob me. He can't be 
much good, and will die in the gutter." The fact is, that about one week after the 
occurrence the party referred to was walking down Broadway and was stricken with 
paralysis, fell into the gutter, and died before any assistance could be rendered him. 

Burns was connected with all of the most celebrated criminals in this country, and 
took part in a large number of the most prominent bank robberies. 

Owing to his genial good-nature he never was able to save a dollar. He has 
served terms in prison in Sing Sing, New York, and Boston, Mass., and is well known 
all over America and Europe. 

He was arrested in New York City on March 11, 1878, for the larceny of a carriage 
clock, valued at $52, from Howard, Sanger & Co., Broadway and Grand Street. He 
was released on $500 bail, and when his case was called for trial he failed to appear. 

He was arrested again in New York City on December 17, 1878, for attempting to 
rescue " Red " Leary from a private detective. He was indicted, and again admitted 
to bail. While at large, he was arrested with George Carson (3) for the larceny of 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 239 

$12,000 in money from the Government Printing Office, in Washington, D. C. No 
case being made out against them, they were discharged on July i, 1879, by Commis- ' 
sioner Deuel, at Washington. 

Burns was arrested upon his discharge on a bench warrant in the old clock case, 
brought to New York City, tried, convicted of grand larceny, and sentenced to three 
years and six months in Sing Sing prison, on July 11, 1879, by Judge Cowing. 

He made his escape from Raymond Street jail in Brooklyn, N. Y., on Friday 
night, July 31, 1883, where he was confined for the larceny of a package containing 
$3,000 in money from the desk of the postmaster of Brooklyn, N. Y. 

After his escape he went to London, England, and from there to Paris, where he 
devoted his talents to picking pockets, and had to leave there to keep out of the 
clutches of the police. When next heard from he was in Stockholm, Sweden, with 
Billy Flynn, alias Connolly, and Bill Baker, alias Langford, where the party obtained 
about eighteen hundred kroners from a bank in that city. They were arrested for the 
robbery, but having no evidence against them a charge of vagrancy was preferred, 
and they were imprisoned for six months as vagrants. A few months after their time 
expired they went to Hamburg, Germany, where, on June 22, 1885, they succeeded in 
robbing the Vereins Bank of 200,000 marks, about $44,000. On July 15, 1885, the bank 
offered a reward of 10,000 marks, about $2,200, for them. They were all arrested in 
London, England, in the latter part of July, 1885, and returned to Paris, France, they 
having been tried, convicted and sentenced to one year's imprisonment each for an 
offense committed in that city. According to French law, any person may be tried 
convicted, and sentenced for an offense during his absence. After their sentence expires 
they will be taken to Hamburg for trial for the larceny of the 200,000 marks. 

Burns's picture is an excellent one, taken in 1882. 



166 
JOHN RILEY, alias JOHN MURPHY. 

SNEAK, PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER. 

DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-one years old in 1886. Born in Ireland. Married. Printer. Medium build. 
Height, 5 feet 8^ inches. Weight, 142 pounds. Light hair, blue eyes, sandy com- 
plexion ; whiskers, when worn, are sandy. Has letters " J. R." in India ink on his left 

arm. 

RECORD. 

Johnny Riley is an old New York pickpocket, sneak and shoplifter. He 
generally works with his wife, Annie Riley, and pays considerable attention to funerals 
and markets. His wife is a very clever pickpocket, John generally doing the " stalling " 
for her. He has served terms in prison in Philadelphia, Sing Sing, and on Blackwell's 
Island, New York. He lives in New York, but is well known in several of the Eastern 
cities. 



240 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Riley, Annie his wife, Fred. Benner, alias Dutch Fred (8i), and Mag. Sweeny, 
alias Bell, were arrested in New York City on August i, 1885, for picking the pocket 
of a woman named Eliza J. North, in Washington Square Park. Riley and Benner 
were sentenced to one year in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island on August 12, 
1885. Mrs. Riley and Sweeny were sentenced to six months in the penitentiary the 
same day by Judge Gildersleeve. 

Riley's picture is a good one, taken in May, 1877. 



167 
EDWARD McGEE, alias EDDIE McGEE. 

SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-nine years old in 1886. Southerner by birth. A baker by trade. Height, 
5 feet loy^ inches. Weight, 130 pounds. Tall, slim man. Brown hair, dark eyes, 
dark, sallow complexion. Has a coat-of-arms and sunburst in India ink on his right 
fore-arm. Dark mustache and chin whiskers ; grows thin. 

RECORD. 

Eddie McGee is one of the cleverest burglars, sneak thieves and pennyweight 
workers there is in the country. He is a partner of Johnny Curtin, alias Cunningham, 
alias Roberts (169), another daring and desperate thief. McGee is well known in all 
the principal cities of the United States, especially Chicago, Philadelphia (Pa.), New 
York and Boston, in all of which he is said to have been sent to prison. 

McGee and Curtin were arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., for shoplifting, and sentenced 
to eighteen months each in the Eastern Penitentiary. When their time expired, on 
August 14, 1883, they were both arrested by New York oflficers, at the penitentiary 
gate, and brought to New York City, to answer an indictment charging them with the 
larceny of $1,200 worth of jewelry from Theodore Starr, a Fifth Avenue jeweler, in 
January, 1882. In this case there was no conviction. 

Shortly after their release they went to England. Curtin was arrested there and 
sent to prison. McGee returned to America, and was arrested in Brooklyn, N. Y., on 
February 12, 1884, for burglary, and sentenced to five years and six months in the 
Kings County Penitentiary on April 16, 1884, under the name of B. C. Earl. 

McGee's picture is an excellent one, taken in August, 1883. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 241 

168 
THOMAS SHORTELL, alias FRANK SHORTELL. 

SNEAK THIEF AND DEALER IN COUNTERFEIT MONEY. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-seven years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. Conductor. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 148 pounds. Brown hair, gray eyes, 
dark complexion. Eyebrows meet ; high cheek bones. Has an anchor in India ink on 
back of right hand. 

RECORD. 

Shortell, although young in the business, is a very clever sneak thief. He was 
formerly a conductor on one of the New York railroad cars, and first made the 
acquaintance of the police in New York City on November 20, 1880, when he was 
arrested for perjury in a seduction case — Murry vs. Cronin — which was being investi- 
gated in one of the police courts. In this case he was not convicted. 

He was arrested again in New York City on January 22, 1883, in company of 
Benton B. Bagley (163) and John T. Sullivan, two other expert sneak thieves, for the 
larceny of a sealskin dolman, valued at $350, from the Church of the Incarnation, on 
Madison Avenue, New York City, during a wedding, on December 27, 1882. 

Bagley and Sullivan were discharged on January 30, 1883, and Shortell was sent 
to the Reformatory at Elmira, New York, by Judge Cowing, on February 5, 1883. 

Shortell was arrested again, under the name of Frank Wilson, in company of 
Tommy Connors, another New York thief, who gave the name of Thomas Wilson, at 
Nashville, Tenn., for picking pockets during the race week, in May, 1885. On 
searching their baggage in their rooms it was found to contain $1,000 in counterfeit 
$10 United States Treasury notes. They were indicted in the Federal Court, and the 
charge of picking pockets withdrawn. They were delivered to the United States 
authorities, tried, and both sentenced to a fine of $100 and five years' imprisonment in 
Chester (111.) prison on May 26, 1885. 

Shortell's picture is a very good one, taken in January, 1883. 



169 
JOHN CURTIN, alias REYNOLDS. 

SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in the United States. Single. Carver by 
trade. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 5>^ inches. Weight, 182 pounds. Brown hair. 



242 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

gray eyes, dark complexion, dark brown whiskers, bald head. Bracelets In India ink 
on each wrist ; stars and eagle in ink on left fore-arm. 

RECORD. 

Johnny Curtin is one of the most notorious shoplifters and burglars in America. 
He is known all over America and in several European cities. He is credited with 
escaping from court-rooms and jails in California, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey, Philadel- 
phia, Pa., and Chicago, 111. He is a desperate man, and requires watching. He is a 
partner of Eddie McGee (167). 

On September 11, 1878, Curtin went into the jewelry establishment of Taylor 
Brothers, No. 676 Broadway, New York City, and asked to be shown a gold watch and 
chain. After looking at several watches he left, promising to return at three o'clock in 
the afternoon and purchase a watch and chain from a clerk named Heiser. He was on 
hand at three o'clock, when the clerk left him in the store while he went out to get 
some money changed. Heiser returned in a few minutes, and found Curtin standing in 
front of the store. He asked him to go inside, but he refused to do so, saying that he 
had an engagement and could not wait. Shortly after his departure it was discovered 
that fifteen diamond rings, valued at $747, and $15 worth of razors had been stolen 
from a table near which Curtin had stood. 

Curtin left New York, and was arrested in Chicago, 111., on October 14, 1878, 
thirty-three days after, under the name of Cunningham, for the larceny of a diamond 
ring from one of the jewelry stores. He had on his person when arrested $50 in money 
and nineteen loose diamonds — four more than were stolen from Taylor Brothers, in 
New York. 

Curtin made his escape from the Chicago jail on October 26, 1878, twelve days 
after his arrest, and returned to New York, where he was again arrested on October 
29, 1878, for the Taylor Brothers robbery. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 
four years and six months in State prison at Sing Sing, on November 17, 1878, under 
the name of James Roberts, by Judge Gildersleeve. 

Curtin and Eddie McGee (167) were arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., in June, 1882, 
and sentenced to eighteen months each in the Eastern Penitentiary for shoplifting. 
Upon their release from prison on August 14, 1883, they were both arrested at the 
penitentiary gate and brought to New York City, to answer an indictment charging 
them with the larceny of $1,200 worth of jewelry from Theodore Starr, a Fifth Avenue, 
New York, jeweler, in January, 1882. In this case there was no conviction. 

Shortly after their discharge Curtin and McGee went to Europe, where Curtin fell 
into the hands of the police, and was sentenced to four years in prison in Paris, 
France, in March, 1884. He, however, succeeded in having his sentence reduced to 
two years, and obtained his release about April 15, 1886. 

McGee returned to America when Curtin was arrested, and is now (September, 
1886) in Crow Hill prison, Brooklyn, N. Y. (See his record, No. 167.) 

After Curtin's release in Paris he came to America, and visited his home in Cohoes, 
N. Y., where he was arrested on suspicion. He was released from Cohoes, and while 
returning from the Troy jail, where he had been paying his friend Billy Porter a visit, 



169 



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171 





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JOHN CURTIN, 

ALIAS REYNOLDS, 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK, 



JAMES McMAHON, 
3URGLAR AND RIVER THIEF. 



THEODORE WILDEY, 

ALIAS THEE WILEY, 
SNEAK. 



172 



173 



174 




GEORGE LITTLE, 

ALIAS TIP LITTLE, 

SNEAK AND FORGER 



DAVID MOONEY, 

ALIAS LITTLE DAVE, 

SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



WILLIAM WRIGHT, 

ALIAS ROARING BILL, 

GENERAL THIEF 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 243 

he had some difficulty with a policeman on the streets of Troy, N. Y., and was arrested 
and heavily fined for assault. 

After getting out of this trouble in Troy he returned to Europe, sailing from 
Boston. He stated to associates in Troy, before sailing, that Porter would be bailed 
and would join him in Europe, and together with Frank Buck, alias Bucky Taylor (27), 
who is also in Europe, they would make a tour of the Continent, as they had 
considerable work laid out for them by Adam Worth, a noted receiver of stolen goods 
in London, who formerly resided in the United States, and to whom all the American 
thieves go, on their arrival in London, for points. Worth was formerly a bank burglar 
in the United States, but has lived in London for a number of years, and is very rich. 
Curtin said this would enable Porter to make up for losses he had met with in 
connection with his arrest for the Marks burglary, at Troy, N. Y. Porter, however, 
found some trouble in giving the large amount of bail asked by the Court for his 
appearance for trial in October, 1886. He was therefore delayed in leaving this country. 
Curtin concluded to make expenses while waiting for Porter's arrival, and on June 7, 
1886, he sauntered into the establishment of the association of diamond merchants. No. 
6 Grand Hotel Building, Charing Cross, London, and was arrested under the name of 
John Colton, charged with the larceny of a small package of diamonds, valued at sixty 
pounds sterling. 

Mr. George W. BuUard, the manager of the store, testified that Curtin, or Colton, 
as he called himself, entered the store on Monday afternoon, June 7, 1886, and asked 
to be shown some diamonds. He opened a parcel containing six thousand pounds' 
worth of loose diamonds. Mr. Bullard's attention was attracted to the window, and in 
the meantime Curtin secreted a small package of diamonds, valued at sixty pounds, 
upon his person. His action was witnessed by one of Mr. Bullard's assistants, who 
immediately gave him information. Curtin attempted to leave the store, but was 
prevented. He was then observed to slip a parcel on the counter, which upon being 
examined was found to be the one missing. The door of the store was secured, and a 
constable was sent for. Curtin was taken to the police station in a cab at his own 
request. On the way he was seen to tear up some papers. He put one piece in his 
mouth and swallowed it, and threw the remainder out of the cab window into the 
roadway, which was picked up, and after being placed together, was found to be a letter 
dated from New York, addressed to John W. Curtin, Box 126, Cohoes, N. Y. The 
letter requested the return of a check drawn on a Paris house for 16,000 francs. Curtin 
was committed for trial, and shortly after he was sentenced to eighteen months' 
imprisonment at hard labor from the Middlesex Sessions. 

Curtin's picture is a good one, taken in August, 1883, 



244 FROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

170 
JAMES McMAHON. 



BURGLAR AND RIVER THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. No trade. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 163 pounds. Light hair, blue eyes, light 
complexion, big nose, thick lips. 

RECORD. 

McMahon is a well known New York burglar and river thief. He has served a 
term on Blackwell's Island, and is a desperate man. He is also well known in 
Philadelphia and other cities. 

He was arrested in New York City on May 16, 1880, charged with robbing the 
schooner Victor, of Prince Edward's Island, while lying at one of the wharves. 
McMahon was detected in the act of robbing the vessel by the mate, John Williams,, 
who, while in an attempt to arrest McMahon, was terribly beaten by him. 

McMahon was committed for trial in default of $3,000 bail, by Justice Morgan, on 
May 15, 1880, indicted on May 18, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to ten years in 
State prison on May 18, by Recorder Smyth, in the Court of General Sessions, New 
York City. His sentence expires on September 18, 1886. 

His picture is a good one, taken in May, 1880. 



171 

THEODORE WILDEY, alias THE. WILEY, 
alias George Davis, alias George Brewster. 

SNEAK AND GENERAL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-four years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Printer. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 11 inches. Weight, 166 pounds. Brown hair, brown eyes, dark 
complexion, dark brown mustache, high forehead. Two joints off fingers of right hand.. 
"Josephine," and numbers " 1858," in India ink on left fore-arm. 

RECORD. 

" The." Wiley is a clever sneak thief, burglar and pickpocket. He is what might 
be called a good general thief, as he can turn his hand to almost anything. He is well 
known in New York and nearly all the principal cities in the United States. He is an 
old criminal, and has served terms in Sing Sing and other prisons. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 245 

He was arrested in New York City on August 14, 1875, and delivered to the 
Brooklyn (N. Y.) police authorities, for robbing a safe in Calvin Cline's jewelry store 
on Fourth Street, that city, of $5,000 worth of diamonds, on August 12, 1875. He 
was tried in the Kings County Court of Sessions in Brooklyn, on October 6, 1875, 
convicted, and sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary by Judge Moore, for burglary 
in the second degree, under the name of George Marsh. He cut off the fingers 
of his right hand, while confined in the Kings County Penitentiary, so he would not 
have to work. His sentence expired on April 5, 1882. 

He was arrested again in Syracuse, N. Y., on January 4, 1883, in company of 
Timothy Oats (136) and William A. Brown, alias " The Student," charged with stealing 
a tin box containing $250 in money from a saloon there. (See record of No. 136.) 
Wiley gave the name of George Davis, alias George Marsh, and was tried, convicted, 
and sentenced to five years in Auburn (N. Y.) State prison, on March i, 1883. His 
sentence expires October i, 1886. Oats pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years 
on the same day in this case. Russell also pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to five 
years in Auburn prison at the same time. 

Wiley's picture is an excellent one, taken in September, 1882. 



172 

WM. H. LITTLE, alias ''TIP LITTLE," 

alias Austin. 
SNEAK, CONFIDENCE AND FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-five years old in 1886. Born in New York, Married. No trade. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 140 pounds. Dark curly hair, gray eyes, 
dark complexion. Generally wears a black curly beard. Has a peculiar expression 
about the eyes. 

RECORD. 

" Tip " Little is an old New York " panel thief," confidence man, sneak thief and 
forger. He is well known as the husband of Bell Little, alias Lena Swartz, alias Eliza 
Austin, a notorious pennyweight worker, shoplifter and "bludgeon thief." This team 
is well known all over the United States. They worked the " panel game " in New 
York and other cities for years, and their pictures adorn several Rogues' Galleries. Of 
late they have been working the " bludgeon game " or " injured husband racket " with 
considerable success, as their victims are generally married men and will stand black- 
mailing before publicity. 

" Tip " and " Bell " have been arrested in New York City several times, but with 
the exception of a few short terms in the penitentiary, they have both escaped their 
just deserts (State prison) many a time. 



246 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Little was arrested in New York City on November 28, 1885, in company of a 
negro accomplice named Isaac Hooper, for attempting to negotiate a check that had 
been raised from $4 to $896. About one week before the arrest Hooper obtained a 
check for $4, on the Nassau Bank of New York, from Henry Carson, a grocer, of 
Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., by pretending that he wanted to send money to a 
relative, and that he had only silver dollars. He raised the check himself from $4 to 
$896, and also made a spurious check for $1,200, on the Nassau Bank of New York, 
and signed Carson's name to it. With the $1,200 check. Tip Little, on November 25, 
1885, went to Wm. Wise & Son's jewelry store on Fulton Street, Brooklyn, and select- 
ing articles worth $400, tendered the check in payment. He was so indignant when it 
was suggested that it would be nothing more than a common business transaction to 
ask Mr. Carson if the check was all right, that he snatched it up and left the store. 

Then he planned to swindle Daniel Higgins, a furniture dealer on Eighth Avenue, 
New York City, with the raised check of $896, which had been certified by the cashier 
of the Nassau Bank. He visited Mr. Higgins on November 27, 1885, and selected 
furniture worth $300. Higgins went to the West Side Bank, which was close by his 
store, and its cashier ascertained by telephone that Mr. Carson repudiated the check. 
When Mr. Higgins returned to the store, "Tip" had left without his change. 

Hooper (the negro) was tried, convicted, and sentenced to seven years in State 
prison on January 15, 1886, by Recorder Smyth, in the Court of General Sessions, 
Part L He had been previously convicted and sentenced to State prison for 
forgery in Providence, R. L 

" Tip " Little pleaded guilty on January 15, 1886 (the same day), and was sentenced 
to five years in Sing Sing prison, by Judge Gildersleeve, in the Court of General 
Sessions, Part H. 

" Little's" picture is a very good one, taken in April, 1879. 



173 

DAVID MOONEY, alias LITTLE DAVE, 

alias Hill, alias Farrell. 

SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. Shoemaker. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 4 inches. Weight, 147 pounds. Dark wavy hair, dark 
eyes, dark complexion ; dark brown beard, when grown. The lower lip is quite thick 
and projecting ; high and expansive forehead. A noticeable feature is his eyes, which 
seem to twinkle behind eyelids almost closed, thus giving him a sharp expression. Has 
letters " N. E. S.," and figures " 13," and two dots of India ink on left wrist. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 247 

RECORD. 

" Little Dave" Mooney is a well known New York thief. His specialty is private 
house work, entering generally by the second story window while the people are down 
stairs at their meals. He is well known in all the principal cities in the United States, 
and is considered a very clever " second-story man." 

He was arrested in New York City on August 19, 1874, and delivered to the police 
authorities of Hunter's Point, Long Island, N. Y., where he was wanted for burglary. 
He was convicted and sentenced to two years in State prison at Sing Sing, in the 
Queens County Court of Sessions at Hunter's Point, on October 19, 1874, by Judge 
Pratt, under the name of John H. Smith. 

He was arrested again in Albany, N. Y., on December 30, 1880, and taken to 
Boston, Mass., for the murder of his partner in crime, Edmond Lavoiye, alias Frenchy 
Lavoiye, and Charles E. Marshall, at No. 22 Florence Street, Boston, where they were 
rooming, on the night of February 12, 1880. He was also charged with breaking and 
entering the house of - George Norman, in Boston, on the night of February 11, 1880, 
and stealing therefrom bonds and jewelry valued at $1,500. He was tried in the 
Supreme Judicial Court of Boston on September 16, 1881, and found guilty of murder 
in the second degree, and sentenced to Concord prison for life on September 19, 1881. 

The following article clipped from the Boston Herald, of January i, 1880, gives a 
detailed account of his arrest and statement concerning the murder : 

Manacled Mooney. — Particulars of His Arrest in Greenbush, N. Y. — His Whereabouts Since 
His Flight from Boston. — He Denies Committing the Lavoiye Murder. 

David Mooney, alias John H. Hill, alias James P. Brady, who was arrested in Greenbush, N. Y., 
Thursday night, December 30, 1880, on the charge of murdering his pal, Edmund A. Lavoiye, at the house 
No. 22 (now No. 20) Florence Street, this city, reached here last evening in custody of Inspectors Gerraughty 
and Mahoney. The murder was committed on the evening of February 12, but was not discovered until 
several days after, when the body of the victim was found in an advanced state of decomposition by Mr. 
Orpen, the landlord of the house. 

It appears, according to the Albany authorities, that Mooney has been residing in Greenbush, a 
suburb of Albany, for some time, being known to his neighbors as " David Farrell." For about four weeks 
Detecti.ve Riley, of Albany, has suspected him to be the fugitive, but it was not till within a few days that 
he became confident that Farrell was really Mooney. The detective Thursday evening went to Greenbush 
about nine o'clock, and, after waiting quietly in a beer saloon on Broadway, smoking a cigar, he soon had 
the satisfaction of seeing the man he was in search of come in with a tin pail, for the purpose of getting 
beer. He had no sooner set the pail on the counter than Riley approached him, and stated that he was 
wanted in Albany to give some information about a diamond pin that had been stolen. Detective Brennan 
was in company with Riley, and together they brought Mooney across the river and took him to the chief's 
office, where it was found that he corresponded in every particular to the description contained in the 
circular, thus leaving no doubt of his being the right party. He was then committed to jail by Chief 
Malloy. 

In answer to questions put to him, Mooney stated that he had been living in Greenbush for the past 
three months, and had also stopped at Newburg, Hudson, and other river towns, and admitted having been 
in Boston quite frequently in his lifetime. On going up to the jail he said to Riley, who had previously told 
him what he was arrested for : "Young fellow, the parties that gave you the 'tip' gave it to you straight." 
The chief telegraphed to Supt. Adams, informing him of the arrest, and soon afterwards officers went to ' 
Albany. During the night Mooney maintained a sullen disposition, but early yesterday morning exhibited 
an inclination to be defiant. He told one detective (Dewire) that he would not be taken to Boston alive, 



248 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

and said it in such a way that the detective became suspicious that he might attempt to make good his 
tlireat. The officer searched him, and found, carefully concealed in his clothing, it is claimed, a piece of 
steel wire, some four inches long, filed down to a sharp point at one end. Mooney felt quite chagrined, but 
repeated his threat. He was carefully looked over, and all the marks contained in the description given of 
him in the Boston Herald at the time of the murder were found on him. 

At one o'clock p. m.. Detectives Gerraughty and Mahoney, of Boston, with Mr. Henry Orpen, at whose 
house the murder was committed, on Florence Street, arrived here. They presented their papers to Chief 
Malloy, who pronounced them in proper form and all right. Detectives Riley and Brennan at once 
proceeded to the jail, and soon after brought Mooney to police headquarters. The prisoner's appearance 
was in sad contrast to that which marked him while in the " Hub." He was dressed in rough and ill-fitting 
garments, in place of the broadcloth in which he was wont to appear while mingling in society in Boston. 
He wore a plush jockey cap, and, with his short and newly-grown bushy whiskers, looked more like a 
recently-arrived Canadian than the American he has been described. On being introduced to the Boston 
officers his face changed to an ashy hue, but he said nothing until placed directly before Mr. Orpen, \yho, 
without hesitation, said : " That is the man who was at my house with the murdered Lavoiye." Mr. Orpen, 
continuing, said : "Well, Hill, you look somewhat changed since I saw you last. Don't you know me ? " 

Mooney — " Oh, yes ; I know you. I don't deny that I was there. It's kind of hard. Well, I am 
somewhat changed, but not altogether so good-looking." 

Mr. Orpen — "Well, it's many a dollar your doings at my house has cost me." 

Mooney — " Well, I am sorry for it ; but I suppose you will, or ought to, get your share of the reward." 

Mooney soon after was questioned by Detective Gerraughty as to his threat that he would not be 
taken to Boston alive, whereupon the prisoner remarked he would give his word of honor that he would go 
to Boston peaceably and without trouble. The officers, with their man, left for Boston on the 2:30 train, 
and arrived here at 9:45 last evening. 

During the evening a Herald reporter had an extended interview with Mooney. At first he declined 
positively to say anything bearing on the subject of the murder of Lavoiye or the robbery of Mr. George 
H. Norman's house, until he could have an opportunity of consulting counsel, but he finally yielded to 
persuasive pressure, and said : 

"Why, one would think from the manner I was arrested at Greenbush that I was some sort of a wild 
animal. Those officers of Albany are a hard lot. After I left Boston I visited several places, but most of 
the time I spent at Greenbush, where I boarded and roomed nearly the whole time. It is an easy thing to 
try a man on circumstantial evidence, especially before he is brought before a proper jury, and I feel certain 
that at the proper time my claim of innocence of the crime with which I am now charged will be satisfac- 
torily established. I can conscientiously say that I am not guilty of the murder of Lavoiye ; neither do I 
know anything about the robbery of Mr. Norman's house. I do not, however, claim to have a fair or 
unblemished character, and, more than that, I do not claim to have always been honest. To make such 
claims would be foolish under the circumstances in which I am now placed. 

" It is hardly necessary for me to go into the details of what my professional calling has been. It is 
enough to say that it is not altogether complimentary to myself ; but yet I can truthfully say that I have 
never committed murder, neither have I garroted a person or broken into a house. I am now thirty years 
of age, and I am sorry to say that my education has been sadly neglected. I was born in New York City, 
and during the war my father kept a hotel on the Hudson River. He died ten years ago. My mother, a 
brother and sister are of good character and above reproach. I am grieved at the sorrow I have caused 
them. I suppose I may attribute my misfortunes to the company I kept in my youth. I have for a long 
time been well acquainted with Boston, and was here off and on several months before the murder of 
Lavoiye. I never knew him by that name, however, but was always under the impression his name was 
Charles E. Marshall, and I called him Charley. I met him during a visit here, and went to lodge with him, 
but not with any desire to be connected with him in the busmess he followed. He was a quiet and very 
peaceable man, and always kept his business to himself, as I did mine. While at the house I never had any 
, trouble with any one, and always paid my bills and treated everybody decently. I sometimes drank a glass 
of lager and occasionally a glass of whiskey, but never indulged in strong liquors to excess. I was seldom 
with my companion when he was out of the house, and never saw anything about him or the room that 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 



249 



would indicate his calling. I did not know that he carried a revolver, and did not know anything about the 
robbery of Mr. Norman's house, on Beacon Street, until the day after it is said to have been committed, 
when I read it in the Boston Herald. Marshall, I suppose, also saw a report of the robbery — although he 
did not tell me of it — as he was in the habit of reading the daily papers. 

" I remember something I read about calling on Mr. Orpen relative to the key of my room. It 
happened that Marshall was out, and had the key of the room with him, on the day it was said I left. Mr. 
Orpen said he would get a key, and I finally said, ' No matter,' and later on met Marshall and got his key. 
I did not leave Mr. Orpen's house on the day after the Norman robbery, but went away some days 
afterwards, and when I last saw Marshall he was alive and well. The day I left him I told him I was going 
away to be absent some time, but would return. I went to New York. While there I saw in a paper an 
account of Marshall's murder. I was astounded, and could hardly believe it, and read the report over, and 
over again. I soon realized my position, felt almost bewildered, and went to get the opinion of some of my 
intimate friends, to see what was best for me to do. My first impulse was to surrender myself to the 
authorities of Boston. My friends urged me to wait, as they said a certain cop or other party was going to 
Boston to see if he could identify Marshall. I concluded to wait, and after the identification was established 
again proposed to give myself up and stand trial. On second reflection I concluded that on account of the 
excited state of the community, it would be best for me to wait until the heat of the people had time to cool 
off. I argued that if I went among strangers without money I would stand a poor chance of getting justice; 
so I concluded to keep out of the way, with the intention of waiting until I got together sufficient money to 
employ able counsel ; but this wish I have never been able to realize, although I have managed to live 
comfortably. I soon left New York, and came up in the vicinity of Greenbush, a very retired place. I 
secured board and lodging in a very respectable family, which never until now suspected my calling. One 
night, shortly after my arrival at my new abode, I was in a saloon on South Pearl Street, Albany, when two 
naen, representing themselves as Boston detectives, came into the place. One of these men was quite drunk, 
and loudly proclaimed he had come to Albany to get Mooney and the reward offered for his arrest. I stood 
facing him, and as he spoke he exhibited before my astonished gaze a copy of my photograph, which has 
been spread broadcast throughout the country. Although startled I tried to keep cool, and left the place 
without any delay, without exciting any suspicion. I went to several places from time to time, but continued to 
hold my residence in Greenbush. In the latter place, soon after my arrival, I learned that a woman had been 
attracted by a certain resemblance between me and a cut of myself in the Police Gazette. She made allusion 
to it, but hearing nothing further from her, I came to the conclusion that she had forgotten all about the 
matter. During last summer I went once or twice to Springfield, where I had friends interested in horses, 
and was not discovered, or ' given away.' I felt at times that I would not be discovered, because my brother, 
since Marshall's death, has twice been mistaken for me by officers. I felt, however, that at some time or 
another I must surely stand my trial. For weeks I have anticipated arrest. Several times I again thought 
of surrendering myself, but the old fear — lack of money to supply desirable counsel — would always come up, 
and I would give up the idea. I am now glad, however, that I am arrested, and that I will be tried, as the 
agony I have suffered has been terrible; not because of any crime I have committed, but simply because 
the charge of murder was constantly hanging over my head. All I ask now is a fair trial, and I am willing 
to abide by whatever may be the result. I understand one suspicious circumstance counted against me is 
the fact that I stood with the door of my room ajar while the little girl of Mr. Orpen came up to deliver 
towels on the day the murder was committed. The inference I draw is that I was supposed to have kept 
the little girl out so that she could not see anything that had occurred within. This is a very funny 
circumstance if it is to be considered as evidence, considering that both Marshall and myself commonly 
stood in the doorway in the same way when either of us was lying on the bed and did not want to be seen. 
Then it is hinted that I wrote the slip which was found in the room with the body, and signed ' Charles E. 
Marshall.' I can hardly read, let alone writing. The letter which was sent to Miss Annie Sullivan, the 
young girl who worked in a restaurant on Harrison Avenue, and who resided in South Boston, was written 
by Marshall for me. He signed the name ' John H. Hill,' and the letter was purely in fun. That is how I 
suppose, I have got the alias of ' Hill.' I never heard myself called James H. Brady until the police of 
Boston sent out their circulars for the purpose of effecting my arrest. I suppose I will find myself possessed 
of other aliases before I get through with Boston. Now, in relation to the Sullivan girl, I always considered 



2 50 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

her a good young lady. I never courted her, or proposed marriage to her. My relations to her were like 
those of a person charitably inclined. I have never been troubled about women, and I never have intrusted 
any of my secrets with them. I do suspect, however, that the woman who thought she saw a similarity 
between my face and the police photograph was the woman who finally caused my arrest by apprising 
Detective Riley of her suspicions. When the detectives appeared in the beer saloon in Greenbush I 
supposed they were a crowd of railroad men who had dropped in to pass away a few hours. The first I 
knew, I was pounced upon by five of them, and although I called for an explanation, they hustled me off in 
a hurry towards Albany. They carried me to the ferry, and then only did they condescend to tell me a 
falsehood when they said I was wanted in the city for the larceny of a diamond pin. When I reached 
headquarters I was shown my photograph, and of course at once surmised the real object of my arrest. In 
regard to my friend Marshall, I wish to say that while I was with him in Boston he frequently had other 
men call at the house, 22 Florence Street, to see him. I knew them by sight, and probably could recall 
some of the places they were in the habit of visiting. I knew them by their given names simply; they came 
frequently, at all hours, and it is possible that some one of them might have murdered Marshall. I know 
of one instance, when I came home from the ' road ' one morning, that I found a man asleep with Marshall. 
Another circumstance which has been held up to sustain the supposition that I committed murder is that 
the gold watch owned by the murdered man was missing when the body was found. Now I know that in 
January, prior to the murder, Marshall pawned his watch in Providence, because he told me he did. I asked 
him why he did not borrow from me, but he said he had rather pawn the watch. I had plenty of ready 
money at the time. I also know that Marshall had a large account in some bank in one of the Eastern 
cities, but he never told me which city. I am willing to bet that bank account is still standing, but I suppose 
it will be hard to find it, as it cannot be ascertained under what name he made the deposits. I think 
Marshall had considerable money, but cannot say how much. While living on Florence Street he frequently 
made trips to New York, but for what purpose I cannot say. I was acquainted with a man named Glover 
in New York, and I suppose Marshall also knew him. I never had any dealings with the man. I never 
saw anything about Marshall to indicate that he was mixed up with the Norman robbery, and I do not 
know anything about the bonds said to have been stolen at the time. I never saw any crucibles about the 
room for melting jewelry ; neither did I, to my recollection, hire a hack on Kneeland Street, in which I was 
said to have dropped a diamond ring which was claimed to have been stolen from the house of Mr. Norman. 
I did not get shaved on the day I left Boston ; I had nothing I wished to shave off. It is very funny how 
stories get started. Time will show my innocence of the charges against me, and all I ask is that the press 
and the people will give me a fair chance." 

After arriving at the central office in Boston, Mooney was, after a short delay, placed in a cell in the 
basement of the City Hall, in charge of an officer. He appeared quite fatigued, and soon after reaching 
his cell fell into a sound slumber. He will be committed to jail to-day, to await trial. 

The following article also appeared in one of the New York papers : 

A Murderer's Confession. — Why One Burglar Killed Another. — A Woman and Diamonds 

THE Cause. 

{Special Dispatch to the New York Evening Telegram?) 

Boston, September 27, 1881. — Mooney, the New York burglar, recently sentenced to imprisonment 
for life for kiUing his confederate, Lavoiye, has confessed his guilt. A quarrel arose, it appears, about a 
pair of diamond earrings. Mooney discovered that Lavoiye had given them to a woman, and Lavoiye denied 
the fact. Mooney, who had obtained them from the woman, then drew them from his pocket. Lavoiye 
became angered, and attempted to draw his pistol, when Mooney shot him. The earrings were stolen 
property, and Mooney feared they might serve as a clew. 



Mooney's picture is an excellent one, taken in January, 1881. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 251 

174 
WILLIAM WRIGHT, alias ROARING BILL. 

GENERAL THIEF. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-three years old in 1886. Born in United States. Single. No trade. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 4^ inches. Weight, 130 pounds. Brown hair, turning gray; 
gray eyes, sallow complexion. Generally wears a mustache, which is quite gray. Scars 
on right eyebrow, under lower lip, and on chin. 

RECORD. 

" Roaring Bill" is an old New York thief. He has spent the best portion of his 
life in State prisons and penitentiaries, and is well known in all the principal cities in 
America. He is a general thief, can turn his hand to almost anything, and is considered 
a very clever man. He is credited with having served four years for an express-train 
robbery in Colorado ; also, with robbing an Adams Express Co. money-car, out West, 
of $15,000. 

Bill was arrested in Providence, R. I., and sentenced to four years in the Rhode 
Island State prison on March 21, 1881, for the larceny of a valise containing a sealskin 
sack and several other things from a railroad train between New York and Providence. 
His sentence expired on October 25, 1884. 

He was arrested again in New York City on August 10, 1885, and committed to 
Blackwell's Island for three months, in default of $500 bail, as a suspicious person, by 
Justice Murray. 

Wright's picture is a good one, taken in August, 1885. 



175 
WILLIAM PERRY, alias BILLY PERRY, 

alias Wilson^ alias Graham. 

PICKPOCKET, SNEAK AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-seven years old in 1886. Born in Virginia. Married. No trade. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 41^ inches. Weight, 115 pounds. Light hair, gray eyes, light 
complexion. Generally has a clean-shaven face. 

RECORD. 

Billy Perry is one of the most expert and successful professional thieves in 
America. He has been traveling around the country for years, generally working with 
a woman. He is well known in all the large cities, and is considered a first-class man. 



252 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Perry was arrested, and sentenced to three years in State prison, in Richmond, Va., 
in 1871, for picking pockets. He served two years in Sing Sing prison since. 

On June i, 1882, Eldridge G. Rideout, a publisher on Barclay Street, New York, 
was robbed of his gold watch at the South Ferry, New York. Perry was arrested, and 
recognized as the thief. 

Soon after his release on bail in this case he was arrested again, for robbing a man 
of a gold watch on one of the Coney Island boats. When Perry was brought to court 
in New York City he was discharged, because the crime with which he was charged 
had been committed out of the jurisdiction of the court. 

When Perry's case, for stealing of Mr. Rideout's watch, was set down for trial in 
the Court of General Sessions he had disappeared, and his bail was forfeited. He was 
re-arrested, bailed again, and when the case was set down again for trial the pickpocket 
could not be found. 

Nothing was heard of him until the arrival of the survivors of the Greely Arctic 
expedition at Newburyport, Mass., on August 13, 1884, when he was arrested there, 
with a number of other professional thieves. Before the New York officers could reach 
Newburyport, Perry had been handed over to the Portsmouth (N. H.) authorities for 
a theft which he had committed there a few weeks before. On that charge he was 
sentenced to one year's imprisonment in the Portsmouth jail on August 27, 1884. 
Perry's sentence expired on August 27, 1885, when he was arrested, at the jail door, 
brought to New York City, committed to the Tombs prison on August 30, 1885, and 
subsequently discharged again on bail. 

Perry's picture is an excellent one, taken in August, 1884. 



176 
MARK SHINBURN. 

BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-eight years old in 1886. Born in Germany. Height, 5 feet 8 or 9 inches. 
Weight, about 170 pounds. Very erect, broad shoulders, thick neck, broad full face; 
small, sharp, light blue eyes ; a very deep dimple in a small chin ; dark hair, parted 
behind. Generally wears a black mustache and side whiskers, now quite gray. Has 
India ink rings on the first and third fingers of left hand. Speaks at times with just a 
perceptible German accent. Dresses well. Quite gentlemanly in manner. Always 
stops at first-class hotels. 

RECORD. 

Mark Shinburn. This celebrated criminal is a German by birth. He arrived in 
New York in 1861, and boarded at the Metropolitan and other first-class hotels for 
several years. He was the associate of sporting men and gamblers, in consequence of 
which he was under the surveillance of the police. 



175 



176 



177 





WILLIAM PERRY, 

ALIAS BILLY PERRY. 

PICKPOCKET AND SNEAK, 



MARK SHIN BORN, 
BANK BURGLAR. 



HENRY CLINE, 

ALIAS WESTON, 

SNEAK. 



178 



179 



rso 




JOSEPH COLON, 

ALIAS RYAN, 

HOUSE BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



ROBERT HOI/AN, 

ALIAS MUNROE and PARKER, 

HOUSE SNEAK AND BURGLAR. 



WILLIAM DARRIGAN, 

ALIAS BILLY DERRIGAN, 
PICKPOCKET. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 253 

On April 21, 1865, the Walpole Savings Bank of Walpole, New Hampshire, was 
robbed by Shinburn, George Bliss, alias White, and Dave Cummings (50). 

Shinburn was arrested in Saratoga, N. Y., on July 26, 1865, and seven one- 
thousand dollar bonds were found upon his person, all of which were identified as a 
portion of the proceeds of that robbery. He had also in his possession a number of 
clipped coupons from off other government bonds, which were also part of the proceeds 
of that robbery. For this offense he was convicted at Keene, N. H., and sentenced to 
ten years at hard labor in the Concord, N. H., State prison, by Judge Porter. 

On the night after the day of his conviction (November 2, 1865), he, by the aid of 
confederates, effected his escape, and was not heard of again until May, 1 866, when he, 
with others, attempted to rob the St. Albans Bank, at St. Albans, Franklin County, 
Vt. They were surprised by the watchman of the bank, who fired upon them. They 
all escaped, Shinburn taking refuge in a car of a slowly passing train of the Vermont 
Central Railroad, in which he pretended to fall asleep. 

One of the passengers who had been a juryman on his trial at Keene, N. H., 
recognized him, and suspecting something wrong called an officer, on stopping at the 
first station, and he was arrested. He was subsequently returned to the New Hamp- 
shire State prison to serve out his ten-year sentence. 

After serving about nine months he again escaped, with the aid of his friends, and 
was not heard from again until 1867, when he was arrested at Wilkesbarre, Pa, for the 
robbery of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Hudson Canal Company's safe of $33,000. 
An officer arrested him for this last offense, and was obliged to remain in 
Wilkesbarre that night owing to the trains not running. A room was engaged at the 
Valley Hotel, Wilkesbarre, and on their retiring to bed the prisoner was handcuffed to 
the officer, who, on awakening in the morning, discovered his prisoner had escaped 
by picking the lock of the cuffs with a small piece of steel which it is supposed he had 
concealed in his mouth. He also carried away with him the officer's watch and money. 

The next heard from Shinburn was after the robbery of the Ocean National Bank 
of New York City, in 1868, when he and his confederates secured over one million of 
dollars, since which time he has been a fugitive from justice, and, I understand, has 
been living in France and Switzerland, where he bought himself a title and castle. 

Shinburn, if cleanly shaven, has a deep dimple in his chin. He speaks English 
fluently, and is a most polished conversationalist. He might be called a good-looking 

man. 

When arrested at Saratoga, N. Y., for the Walpole Savings Bank robbery, his 
house was searched, and on the top floor was found a complete workshop for the 
manufacture of burglars' tools. A number of wax impressions of keys were found, 
which, upon investigation, proved to be of keys fitting the Cheshire County Bank at 
Keene, N. H., and also fitting its vaults and steel money chests, which contained at 
that time $232,000 in money. 

Mark Shinburn's specialty was the taking of wax impressions of bank and safe 
keys, which he obtained by ascertaining that the bank officials carried them, and then 
effecting an entrance to their sleeping-room at night, and abstracting them from their 
pockets. 



254 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

George White, alias Bliss, was associated with Shinburn in all the above transac- 
tions. He was convicted in September, 1875, and sentenced to fourteen years in State 
prison for robbing the Barre Bank of Vermont. 

White, while arranging to rob the Walpole Bank, to give color to his appear- 
ance in Walpole, and also to assist the robbery, got up a grand gift enterprise there, and 
while doing this he ascertained the habits of the bank people, and gave Shinburn an 
opportunity to get impressions. The jury disagreed on this trial for this robbery, and 
with the aid of confederates he escaped from the county jail. 

Dave Cummings (50), who was with Shinburn and White in this robbery, was dis- 
charged for want of jurisdiction, as it could not be proved that he sold any of the bonds 
in the State of New Hampshire. He did sell some in New York and Pennsylvania. 

Shinburn was next heard from in attempting to dispose of the proceeds of a bank 
robbery at Baltimore, Md., in the office of a prominent lawyer in New York City. The 
go-between in this transaction was a noted receiver of stolen goods in New York City, 
who negotiated with this lawyer to purchase the bonds; the lawyer made an appoint- 
ment, and then notified the police. 

Shinburn not willing to trust the receiver with the bonds, accompanied him to the 
lawyer's office, where the police arrested them both and secured the recovery of 
$137,000 in bonds. The prisoners were wanted in Baltimore, and being willing to go 
there without a requisition, were handed over to the Baltimore detectives. When they 
arrived in Jersey City their counsel demanded the authority on which they took them 
through the State of New Jersey, and they not having any, the prisoners were 
discharged. 

During the month of November, 1863, a number of $500 bills of the Haverhill 
Bank were circulated in the city of Boston, Mass., for which Charley Bullard was 
arrested in New York City, and by requisition he was conveyed to Boston, where, upon 
an examination, he was held in $5,000 bail to answer, and on being liberated fled from 
justice and concealed himself in some of our Western cities. 

In 1866 or 1867, a baggage car of the New Haven Railroad Company was entered 
and a safe thrown off at a point between New York and Bridgeport, Conn., which con- 
tained a large amount of money, the property of Adams Express Company of New 
York City. For this offense Bullard was arrested in Canada, brought to this country, 
and lodged in jail at White Plains, N. Y., from which, in a few months, he escaped, 
and left for Europe, landing at Liverpool, England, where he married a pretty 
"bar-maid," with whom he went to Paris, and was next heard of as the proprietor of 
the American cafe in Paris, a place much frequented by Americans abroad. 

Here he became dissipated and impoverished, and again returned to this country, 
where he was arrested charged with robbing the Boylston Bank of Boston, Mass., to 
which he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. 

He remained in Concord, Mass., State prison about one year, when he again made 
his escape to Canada, and while at Toronto, Canada, was arrested for burglary, and 
upon conviction sentenced to five years' hard labor, which sentence he served. On his 
being released he left for Europe, fell in with Shinburn, and was arrested with him 
leaving the yard of a small bank in Viveres, in Belgium, in September, 1883. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. i!55 

The arrest of Shinburn and Bullard in Belgium is very interesting. It appears 
that Shinburn became straitened in circumstances and was very short of money. He 
therefore took a look around for a good place to get some, and finally decided that the 
Provincial Bank at Viveres, in Belgium, was an easy one to rob. The next thing to 
do was to get a good man to help him. He finally hunted up Charley Bullard, who 
was then in Europe, and told him he had a chance to get some money, and if he 
(Bullard) would help him, he would give him $6,000 if the job was successful, Shinburn 
firmly believing that if he was successful in robbing the bank he would obtain at least 
$100,000. So hungry was Shinburn for the money, that he would not take Bullard in 
the robbery and share it with him. After all their arrangements were made, they both 
visited the bank one night, "to look it over." They approached it from the rear, 
entering the yard by fitting a key to the gate, after which their progress was barred by 
an old-fashioned oak and iron door, which had an immense lock on it on the inside. 
Shinburn proceeded to remove a large keyhole plate that was upon the outside of the 
door, by unscrewing a number of small screws that were in it ; these he placed in his 
vest pocket, so he could find them again when wanted. After the plate was removed 
there was not much difficulty in picking the old-fashioned lock. Before entering the 
bank they both removed their shoes and placed them in the corner of the yard, then 
entered and made a general survey of the premises, after which they decided to return 
the next night and proceed to force the safe. 

While they were engaged inside the bank, an officer appeared whose custom it was 
to come down the back way and try the gate, which, in their hurry, they had neglected 
to fasten. Finding it open, he flashed his bull's-eye light around the yard and discov- 
ered the shoes. He picked them up, and after examining them, became suspicious, and 
started at once for the police station with them. During the time that the officer had 
taken to go to the police station and return with a posse of men, who stationed them- 
selves outside the bank, front and rear, to await developments, Shinburn and Bullard 
had left the bank and were in the act of replacing the keyhole plate, previous to their 
departure, when it was discovered that one of the small screws was missing. After 
searching in vain for it, Shinburn finally took a small piece of wax from a larger piece 
that he had in his pocket, and filled the hole with it, forming a head on it by drawing 
his finger-nail through it. They then proceeded to leave the yard, first going to where 
they had left their shoes, which were missing. This aroused their suspicions, and 
thinking that they were detected, approached the gate cautiously. Shinburn tried it 
and found it open, and it was not until Bullard had assured him that he had forgotten 
to fasten it, that they decided to leave the yard. 

Immediately after leaving the yard they were arrested. Bullard broke away, and 
while the officers were pursuing him he fired several shots at them from a revolver. 
He was finally run down, and lodged in jail with Shinburn. They were both searched, 
but nothing of importance was found upon them, except the piece of wax that Shinburn 
had in his vest pocket. This, however, they paid no particular attention to, as it was 
evident that they did not know its use. 

The authorities then proceeded to make a thorough examination of the bank, and 
found everything as usual. They were about discharging the prisoners, who had satis- 



256 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

factorily explained their presence in the bank yard, when they decided to call in some 
experts and re-examine the bank and its surroundings. One of the experts, a chemist, 
took the piece of wax for the purpose of examining and analyzing it, and while so doing 
he found deeply imbedded in it a small screw. They then proceeded to the bank, in 
company of the other expert, a locksmith, who examined the door in the yard, and found 
one of the screw holes filled up with wax and the screw missing. The wax that was 
taken from the hole was saved, analyzed, and found to contain the same ingredients as 
the piece found in Shinburn's pocket. The screw was a fac-simile of the others in the 
plate, all of which showed recent marks upon them. It was this series of circumstantial 
evidence, and their previous record, sent to Viveres, Belgium, by the police authorities 
of New York City, that convicted them. 

Shinburn and Bullard were tried for the attempt upon this bank and found guilty. 
Shinburn received a sentence of seventeen years and six months, and Bullard sixteen 
years and six months. 

For further particulars of Shinburn, see also record of No. 70. For George 
White, or Bliss, see also records of Nos. 20, 70, 80, 89 and 1 10. For Dave Cummings, 
see No. 50. 



177 

HENRY CLINE, alias WESTON, 

alias Klein. 
BURGLAR, SNEAK AND COUNTERFEITER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-one years old in 1886. German, born in the United States. Married. 
Machinist. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 9 inches. Weight, 148 pounds. Black 
hair, brown eyes, dark complexion. Has a scar on his forehead ; mole under the right 
eye. 

RECORD. 

Cline is one of the most expert house and office sneaks there is in this country. 
He generally works with another man, who enters the room or office under pretense of 
selling something, thereby occupying the attention of whoever may be there, while 
Cline sneaks in and gets what he can. He is an expert machinist. One of the finest 
set of " house-workers' " tools that was ever captured was taken from him at the time 
of his arrest on April 24, 1885. He claimed to have made them while confined in 
prison. 

Cline has served several terms in the penitentiary of New York City. He was 
sentenced to three months on January 11, 1876, for petty larceny, in New York City, 
and again in May, 1879, for six months. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 257 

He was arrested again in New York City on July 6, 1885, under the name of 
Henry Weston, in company of a girl named Kitty Wilson, charged with counterfeiting 
United States silver coins. The United States officers searched the rooms occupied 
by them, and found twenty-five sets of plaster moulds, such as are used in making 
counterfeit coins, batteries, chemical solutions, and a number of spurious coins, among 
which were two hundred bogus United States standard dollars. They were rather 
poor imitations of the genuine, and could be readily detected. 

Kitty Wilson, who is about twenty-five years of age, is of German descent, and is 
well known as one of the women who frequent the disreputable resorts in the vicinity 
of the Bowery, and Bleecker and Great Jones streets, New York. She formerly lived 
with a man named Wilson, and took his name. She met Cline a short time before 
their arrest, and went to live with him at No. 44 First Avenue, New York, and began 
the coining of counterfeit silver pieces in their apartments on the third floor. Weston 
and Kitty were committed to jail, in default of $5,000 bail, by United States Commis- 
sioner Shields, on July 7, 1885. Weston, or Cline, was sentenced to three years in 
State prison at Buffalo, N. Y., by Judge Benedict, in the United States Court in New 
York City, on October 28, 1885. Kitty Wilson was discharged. 

Cline's picture is an excellent one, taken in May, 1879. 



178 

JOSEPH COLON, alias JOHNSON, 
alias Joseph Rogers. 

PICKPOCKET, SNEAK, HOUSE BURGLAR AND SLEEPING-CAR 

WORKER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-nine years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. No trade. Slim 
build. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 138 pounds. Brown hair, brown eyes, nose 
flat and turns up at the end, sandy complexion ; sandy mustache or beard, when grown. 
Has scar on side of head ; mole on the left cheek. A woman's head on right fore-arm, 
and a star on the right hand in India ink. 

RECORD. 

Joe Colon is a very clever sneak thief and house man. He may be found around 
boat regattas, fairs, etc., and sometimes works with a woman. Of late he has been 
doing considerable house work. He travels all over and has been quite successful, as 
he drops into a town or city, does his work, and takes the next train out of it. 

Colon first made the acquaintance of the New York police on October 23, 1877, 
when he was arrested at the Grand Central Railroad depot, on the arrival of a Boston 
train, for having in his possession a vest, watch and chain belonging to Elliot Sanford, 



258 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

a broker, in New York, which he had stolen from a sleeping-car. Mr. Sanford, after 
getting his property back, refused to go to court, and Colon was discharged, after his 
picture was taken for the Rogues' Gallery. 

Colon was arrested at Troy, N. Y., on August 20, 1884, under the name of Joseph 
Rogers, for the larceny of a gold watch and chain, the property of George L. French, 
from a locker in the Laureate Club boat-house during a regatta. He was convicted 
under Section 508 of the New York Penal Code, and sentenced to one year in the 
Albany, N. Y., penitentiary, and fined $500, on Saturday, August 30, 1884. He was, 
however, discharged before his time expired. 

He was arrested again in Boston, Mass., on November 11, 1885. Tools for doing 
house work, consisting of a palet-knife for opening windows, a screwdriver, soft black 
hat, rubber shoes, and a one-inch wood-chisel for opening drawers, etc., were found in a 
satchel he was carrying. His picture was taken, and he was discharged, as no complaint 
could be obtained against him. 

Colon's picture is a good one, taken on November 11, 1885. 



179 

ROBERT HOVAN, alias ROBERT M UN ROE, 

alias Henry Parker, alias Paul Harrington, 
alias Charles H. Adams. 

BURGLAR AND HOUSE SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-four years old in 1886. Born in the United States. Married. Produce 
dealer. Medium build. Height, 5 feet 95^ inches. Weight, 160 pounds. Hair, light 
brown. Hazel eyes, fair complexion. Generally wears a full, sandy beard. Has an 
anchor on the right fore-arm, a star on the left fore-arm, and five dots of India ink on 
right hand. Inclined to be feminine in his actions. 

RECORD. 

Bob Hovan is a very clever house sneak and burglar. He is a brother of Horace 
Hovan, alias Little Horace (25), the bank sneak; also, a brother-in-law of Bill Vosburg 
(4), another notorious bank sneak. Hovan is pretty well known in all the principal 
cities in America. 

He was arrested in New York City, on June 18, 1880, for a house robbery, and 
sentenced to one year In the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, by Judge Cowing, on 
June 28, 1880, under the name of Charles H. Adams. 

In December, 1882, Hovan, or Harrington, as he then called himself, was arrested 
by the police in Brooklyn, N. Y. He had no difficulty in securing his release upon 
bail, which, when the case was called for trial and Harrington did not appear, proved 



FROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 259 

valueless. A warrant was issued, and detectives Corr and Looney, of Brooklyn, came 
to New York, and located Harrington at No. 1225 First Avenue, where he was living 
with a Mrs. Adams, or Charlotte Dougherty, Horace Hovan's wife. The detectives, 
soon after dark, on the night of February 17, 1883, stationed themselves in an 
opposite door-way, and patiently watched. They had not long to wait, and in the 
twilight they could see a man entering the house who in build and general appearance 
resembled Harrington. He, however, did not wear a full beard like that usually worn 
by the burglar, but had his chin cleanly shaven, and had a mustache and small side- 
whiskers. They waited for him to come out, and after half an hour's watch the man 
they suspected came ou.t of the house. Corr and Looney came to the conclusion that 
it was Harrington. They followed him to the corner of Sixty-fifth Street, where he 
caught sight of them, and apparently it flashed across him who his pursuers were. He 
quickened his pace, and the two detectives did likewise. Near the corner of Second 
Avenue, Corr said to Looney, "That's our man ; let us close in on him." They moved 
forward rapidly, and as they did so Harrington made a feint as if to ascend the stairs 
leading to the Elevated Railroad station. The detectives and the fugitive at that time 
were the only people in sight. Looney was about six feet in advance of his companion, 
and when he came within two or three paces of the fugitive there was a flash and a 
report from a weapon which Harrington held in his outstretched hand. With the 
report Looney fell prostrate into the gutter, shot in the neck. With the flash Corr 
whipped out his weapon, and as he brought it to bear on the burglar the fellow fired a 
second shot, which missed the officer. Corr returned the fire, and discharged two shots 
from his revolver. As he was about to fire a third shot he received a bullet from 
another chamber of the burglar's pistol, which passed through his cheek and buried 
itself in his neck. Before the officers could recover from the shock of their wounds 
Harrington had made good his escape. 

Hovan was arrested again on March 18, 1883 — a little over a month after he shot 
Looney and Corr — in the east end of Allegheny City, Pa., for robbing a safe in a feed 
store. He was shortly after sentenced to three years in the Western Penitentiary, at 
Allegheny City, under the name of Henry Parker. His time expired on November 28, 
1885, when he was re-arrested on a requisition by New York officers and returned to New 
York City, to answer an indictment for assault in the first degree. His case went to 
trial in the Court of General Sessions, but Judge Cowing allowed Hovan, during the 
progress of the trial, to plead guilty to one of the indictments. He was remanded until 
December 10, 1885, and in the time intervening several church people interceded for 
him, and Judge Cowing sentenced him to five years' imprisonment in Sing Sing prison 
— this being his fourth term served in that prison. 

Hovan's sentence will expire on July 10, i88g, allowing him commutation. 

His picture is a good one, taken in June, 1880. 



26o PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

180 

WILLIAM DARRIGAN, alias BILLY DERRIGAN, 

alias Wilson, alias Drake. 

PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-eight years old in 1886. Born in New York. Married. No trade. Stout 
build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Dark hair, brown eyes, dark 
complexion. A short, thick-set, saucy fellow. 

RECORD. 

Billy, or Hugh, Darrigan is a well known New York pickpocket. He was an 
associate of Jersey Jimmie (145), Combo (148), Shinny McGuire (155), Freddie 
Louther (161), and Johnny Price (150). He has spent the best portion of his life in 
State prisons and penitentiaries all over the United States. Some years ago he was 
considered a very clever man, but he cannot be relied upon now on account of his love 
for liquor. The "clever" ones shun him, as he is what is termed a "marker" — one 
known by everybody. He is very well known in all the large cities, also in Canada. 

He was arrested in New York City on February 21, 1872, for picking pockets, and 
sentenced to four years in Sing Sing prison, under the name of Hugh Derrigan, by 
Recorder Hackett, on March 4, 1872. 

He was arrested again in New York City on the night of October 20, 1880, for the 
larceny of a gold watch and chain from John H. Ford, in Tammany Hall. He pleaded 
guilty, and was sentenced to one year and six months in Sing Sing prison, under the 
name of William Davis, by Judge Cowing, in the Court of General Sessions, on 
November 10, 1880. 

His picture is a good one. 



181 

PETER LAMB, alias DUTCH PETE, 
alias Hall, alias Peter Hart, alias John Willett, alias 

Henry Minor, alias Miller. 
SHOPLIFTER AND BURGLAR. 



description. 

Forty-six years old in 1886. German, born in United States. Married. An 
auctioneer. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 10^ inches. Weight, 210 pounds. Brown 
hair, brown eyes, light complexion. Generally wears a light brown mustache. 



181 



182 



183 




PETER LAMB, 

ALIAS DUTCH PETE, 

SHOP LIFTER. 



FRANK LOEDITHAL, 

ALIAS SHEENY ERWIN, 

SHOP LIFTER. 



WILLIAM SCOTT, 

ALIAS SCOTTY, 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOP LIFTER. 



184 



185 



186 




RUDOLPH LEWIS, 

ALIAS YOUNG RUDOLPH, 

SHOP LIFTER. 



GEORGE LEVY, 

ALIAS LEE, 

SHOP LIFTER. 



WM. DOUGHERTY, 

ALIAS BIG DOCK, 

PICKPOCKET AND SNEAK. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 261 

RECORD. 

" Dutch Pete," or Peter Rinehart, which is his right name, is a very clever 
shoplifter and burglar. He is well known in New York, Boston, Chicago, and several 
of the other large cities. He has served three terms in Sing Sing prison, N. Y. 

Pete was arrested in New York City on December 4, 1879, i'^ company of John 
Cass, alias Big Cass, another notorious burglar, charged with committing a burglary at 
No. 329 Canal Street, New York, a Russia leather establishment. He was also charged 
with another burglary, committed at No. 73 Grand Street, New York City, where the 
burglars carried away $2,000 worth of silks. For the latter offense he was sentenced 
to three years in Sing Sing prison, on December 18, 1879, ^y Judge Cowing, in the 
Court of General Sessions. 

Lamb was arrested again in New York City, in December, 1882, for the larceny of 
some penknives (a sneak job) from a safe in a store on Broadway, near Duane Street, 
New York. For this he was sentenced to four years in Sing Sing prison (his third 
term), for grand larceny in the second degree, on January 3, 1883, by Judge Gilder- 
sleeve, under the name of John Willet. His sentence expired on January 3, 1886. 

Lamb's picture is a good one, taken in April, 1879. 



182 

FRANK LOWENTHAL, alias SHEENY IRVING, 

alias August W. Erwin. 
SHOPLIFTER AND RECEIVER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-two years old in 1886. Jew, born in United States. Married. Telegraph 
operator and jewelry dealer. Slim build. Height, 5 feet 3 inches. Weight, 121 
pounds. Brown hair, hazel eyes, dark complexion. Jewish appearance. 

RECORD. 

Frank Lowenthal, alias "Sheeny Irving," is a noted shoplifter and receiver of 
stolen goods. He shot his wife, Delia, and then himself, in the AUman House, in East 
Tenth Street, New York City, on July 15, 1885. 

He was arrested in New York City on September 28, 1882, for the larceny of some 
opera glasses from a jewelry store in Maiden Lane, New York. Julius Klein, alias 
"Sheeny" Julius (191), another notorious young thief, was arrested with him for the 
same offense, but was not held. Erwin, however, was committed in $500 bail for trial, 
which he furnished. His case had not come to trial up to the time of his arrest for 
assaulting his wife. 

Erwin is a man of good education, and speaks German fluently. He says that he 
was born in Cincinnati of wealthy parents, who sent him to Germany to be educated. 



262 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

After spending two years at the high school at Magdeburg, he entered the University 
of Heidelberg as a student of the natural sciences, and graduated with the degree of 
B. A. After his return to the United States he was connected with a St. Louis news- 
paper ; he afterwards came to New York, and commenced his criminal career. Erwin 
was prompted to shoot his wife by rum and unhappy domestic experience. She was 
going to Europe with her father, who was anxious to separate them when he found out 
that Erwin was a thief. Mrs. Erwin recovered from her wounds, and Erwin pleaded 
guilty to assault in the second degree, and was sentenced to five years in State prison 
and fined $i,ooo, by Recorder Smyth, in the Court of General Sessions, New York 
City, on September 21, 1885. 

His picture is a good one, taken in September, 1882. 



183 

WILLIAM SCOTT, alias SCOTTY, 

alias Wm. Clark, alias Kirby. 

SHOPLIFTER AND PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. Marble-cutter. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 6^ inches. Weight, 183 pounds. Black hair, brown 
eyes, light complexion. Generally wears a dark brown mustache. Short nose, with 
scar on it. 

RECORD. 

"Scotty" is an old professional pickpocket and shoplifter. He is well known in 
New York and all the principal cities in the United States. His picture adorns several 
Rogues' Galleries. He has served two terms in State prison in New York State, and 
three in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, N. Y. He pays considerable attention 
to funerals and fairs, and sometimes works with a very clever woman. 

He was arrested in New York City for shoplifting, and sentenced to two years and 
six months in Sing Sing prison, on April 17, 1879, ^7 J"^g^ Cowing, in the Court of 
General Sessions, New York City. 

He was arrested again in New York City for picking pockets, pleaded guilty to 
grand larceny, and was sentenced to four years in State prison at Sing Sing, N. Y., on 
July 12, 1882. 

His sentence expired on July 12, 1885. 

Scott's picture is an excellent one, taken in May, 1878. 



PROFESSIOlSrAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 263 

184 

RUDOLPH LEWIS, alias YOUNG RUDOLPH, 

alias Rudolph Miller. 

SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-one years old in 1886. German, born in the United States. Single. No 
trade. Slim build. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 130 pounds. Brown hair, hazel 
eyes, sallow complexion. Three dots of India ink on inside of left fore-arm. Large 
ears. 

RECORD. 

Young Rudolph is, perhaps, one of the smartest young thieves in America. He 
has just started out, and from his career so far he is calculated to develop into a first- 
class man. He is pretty well known in all the Eastern cities, especially in New York 
and Boston, where his picture is in the Rogues' Gallery. He is an associate of Frank 
Watson, alias Big Patsey, Little Eddie Kelly, Jack McCormack, alias Big Mack, and 
Charles Lewis, all notorious east side. New York, thieves. 

Lewis was arrested in New York City on September 22, 1883, charged with stealing 
a piece of silk, valued at $100, from the store of Lewis Brothers, No. 86 Worth Street, 
New York. He forfeited his bail and went to Boston, Mass., where he was arrested for 
shoplifting, and sentenced to eighteen months in the House of Correction, on November 
19, 1883, under the name of Rudolph Miller. His time expired in Boston on April 25, 
1885, when he was re-arrested on a requisition, and brought back to New York, to 
answer for the larceny of the piece of silk. 

Lewis pleaded guilty in the silk case, and was sentenced to two years in Sing Sing 
prison, on April 3, 1885, by Judge Cowing. His sentence will expire on December 30, 
1886. 

Young Rudolph's picture is a good one, taken in September, 1883. 



185 
GEORGE LEVY, alias LEE. 



SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-six years old in 1886. Jew, born in Poland. Single. No legitimate trade. 
Slim build. Height, 5 feet 105^ inches. Weight, 135 pounds. Brown hair, hazel 
eyes, dark complexion, mole on right cheek. Three Indik ink marks on left arm. 
Generally wears brown mustache and chin whisker. 



264 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

RECORD. 

Levy is a smart sheeny shoplifter and sneak thief, who has been traveling through 
the Eastern cities for years. He is as liable to sneak into a bank as into a store. He 
is considered quite clever, and is pretty well known in all the Eastern cities, especially 
in New York, where he has served time in State prison at Sing Sing, and in the 
penitentiary on Blackwell's Island. 

He was arrested in New York City on June 7, 1882, for the larceny of $24 worth 
of Japanese articles from the store of Charles W. Fuller, No. 15 East Nineteenth Street. 
He was tried in the Court of Special Sessions, in the Tombs building, on June 12, 
1882, and discharged by Justice Murray, who was ignorant of his character. 

He was arrested in New York City again on September 9, 1885, in the fur store of 
Solomon Kutner, No. 492 Broome Street. Mrs. Kutner noticed that a light overcoat 
that he carried over his arm was much larger than when he entered. She shut the door, 
and stood before it. Finding himself locked in, he threw the bundle to the floor, seized 
the woman, and pushed her to one side. He found that he had been foiled again, as 
she had taken the key out of the door after locking it. Mrs. Kutner shouted, and her 
son and husband held Levy until an ofificer arrived and arrested him. The property he 
attempted to steal consisted of a sealskin sacque, valued at $170; two pairs of beaver 
gloves, and a roll of satin lining. Levy pleaded guilty in this case, and was sentenced 
to three years in State prison at Sing Sing, on September 21, 1885, by Judge Cowing, 
in the Court of General Sessions, New York. 

Levy's picture is a good one, although he tried to avoid it. It was taken in June, 
1882. 



186 

WILLIAM DOUGHERTY, alias BIG DOCK, 

alias William Gleason. 
SNEAK AND PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty years old in 1886. Born in New York. Married. No trade. Stout build. 
Height, 5 feet 11 inches. Weight, about 180 pounds. Dark brown hair, dark eyes, 
dark complexion. Generally wears a brown mustache. Hair worn long and inclined 
to curl. He is a tall, fine-looking man. Dresses well. 

RECORD. 

" Big Dock " is an old Eighth Ward New York pickpocket and sneak thief. He 
is well known in a number of the principal cities in the United States and Canada, and 
is an escaped prisoner from Sing Sing prison, New York. There is a standing reward 
of fifty dollars for any officer in the United States who arrests and holds him until the 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 265 

prison authorities can come for him. He is a big, desperate fellow, and requires 
watching before and after arrest. 

Dougherty has served terms in Sing Sing prison (New York), and in the peniten- 
tiary on Blackwell's Island; also, in Canada. He is an associate of "Curly" Charley, 
" Big Dick" Morris (141), "Jimmy the Kid" (143), Freddie Louther (161), "Aleck the 
Milkman" (160), and several other first-class pickpockets. 

He was arrested in New York City on October 7, 1875, for grand larceny and 
felonious assault. Mr. Joseph Wolf and his wife got on board of a Third Avenue car 
in Park Row, intending to go up-town. Before the car had proceeded far, his watch 
was torn from his pocket by Dougherty, who then jumped off the platform and ran 
away. Mr. Wolf gave chase to the fugitive, and overtook him in Nassau Street. The 
thief struck him a blow in the face, and continued his flight, still pursued by Mr. Wolf. 
The latter again overtook the runaway, in Theatre Alley, when Dougherty turned upon 
him, knocked him down, and while he was lying upon the ground fired a shot at him 
from a revolver. When Mr. Wolf came to his senses the thief was out of sight. An 
officer who was in the vicinity heard the shot, and arrived on the scene in time to pursue 
the culprit, whom he captured. 

Dougherty was tried, found guilty, and sentenced, on November 11, 1875, to ten 
years in State prison for the larceny, and five years for the assault, making fifteen years 
in all, by Recorder Hackett. He gave the name of William Gleason. "Big Dock" 
escaped from Sing Sing prison on January 30, 1876, and is now wanted by the prison 
authorities. The white affair on his breast is a pocket-handkerchief which he placed 
there to hide a bloody shirt when his picture was taken. 

Dougherty's picture is a good one, although taken fifteen years ago. 



187 

EMANUEL MARKS, alias MINNIE MARKS, 
alias The Red-headed Jew. 

BANK SNEAK, CONFIDENCE MAN AND SKIN GAMBLER. 

DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-four years old in 1886. Jew, born in Illinois. Married. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weight, about 160 pounds. Florid com- 
plexion, bushy brown hair, almost sandy. He is a little stooped shouldered. Blue 
eyes that have a bold, searching look. Walks with a very slouchy gait. He is a good 
talker, and rattles away at a furious rate. Speaks good English, German and Hebrew. 
Used to dress well, but getting careless of late. 

RECORD. 

Minnie Marks, alias The Red-headed Jew, is a Chicago thief, and is well known 
in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, and New York. He received considerable 



266 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

notoriety when arrested In New York City, on October 21, 1881, and was delivered to 
the poHce authorities of Detroit, Mich., charged with robbing the First National Bank 
of that city of $2,080. It was a sneak robbery, which was done by four men, with a 
light wagon, on June 22, 1881. 

In Chicago, where Marks is well known, he is not considered a very smart thief,, 
although other people who know him say he is a good man. He works with men 
like Rufe Minor (i), Mollie Matches (11), Johnny Jourdan (83), Georgie Carson (3), 
Big Rice (12), Billy Burke (162), Paddy Guerin, and other celebrated thieves. 

Marks's picture is in the Rogues' Gallery at New York, Chicago and Detroit. He 
is said to have been with Jourdan, Minor, Carson and Horace Hovan in the Middle- 
town Bank robbery in July, 1880. He is also said to have been one of the men who, in 
April, 1 88 1, attempted to rob the bank at Cohoes, N. Y. 

Marks succeeded in making his escape from the jail in Detroit, Mich., on March 
12, 1882, with twelve other prisoners, and has never been recaptured. Since that time 
he has served two years in St. Vincent De Paul prison in Montreal, Canada. The 
latest accounts say that he is now employed as a porter in a first-class hotel in Montreal, 
Canada. 

Marks's picture is a very good one, taken in Detroit, Mich. 



188 

CHARLES BENNET, alias CHARLEY BENNETT, 

alias Agnell, alias Bentley. 

SNEAK, BURGLAR AND WINDOW SMASHER. 

DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-seven years old in 1886. Height, 5 feet 7 inches. Weight, 145 pounds. 
Dark complexion. Had cast in one eye, which was operated upon, and is hardly 
noticeable now. Very genteel-looking. Good talker and writer. Dark brown hair. 
Generally wears a full dark beard, or mustache and whiskers, as in picture. 

RECORD. 

Bennett is a very daring thief. He was an* old partner of Fairy McGuire (78) 
and Sleepy Gus, and traveled through the country with them smashing in windows 
and robbing them. He is an expert burglar, and is well known in all the large cities, 
especially Philadelphia and New York. 

Bennett was arrested in Middletown, Conn., on December 5, 1878, with a lot of 
burglars' tools in his possession. He was tried and sentenced to two years in State 
prison, by Judge Morton, on the same day of his arrest. He has served terms in 
Sing Sing and the Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia since. This man, of late years, 
is not relied upon much by the fraternity, on account of his fondness for liquor. 

Bennett's picture is an excellent one, taken in December, 1878. 



187 



188 



189 




EMANUEL MARKS, 

ALIAS MINNIE MARKS AND THE 
RED-HEADED JEW, 

BANK SNEAK. 



CHARLEY BENNETT, 
BURGLAR AND WINDOW SMASHER. 



HERMAN PALMER, 
BURGLAR. 



190 




HENRY HOFFMAN, 

ALIAS MEYERS, 

RECEIVER. 



JULIUS KLEIN, 

ALIAS YOUNG JULIUS, 

SNEAK AND SHOP LIFTER. 



JOHN CARROLL, 

ALIAS KID CARROLL, 

BANK SNEAK. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 267 

189 
HERMAN PALMER, alias DUTCH HERMAN. 



BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-nine years old in 1886. German, born in New York. Single. Shoemaker 
and carpenter. Stout build. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, 167 pounds. Light • 
hair, small gray eyes, light complexion, thick lips. German appearance. Hair inclined 
to be curly. A good, stout lump of a man. Has plenty of nerve. 

RECORD. 

Herman Palmer is a brother of August Palmer (63), both of whom are well 
known in all the Eastern cities, especially in Philadelphia and New York, where they 
made a specialty of blowing open pawnbrokers' safes. They are both expert safe 
burglars, and have a quick and noiseless method of opening a safe in a very short time. 
Herman has served terms previously in Sing Sing prison and on Blackwell's Island, N. Y. 

He was arrested in New York City on February 17, 1881, charged with robbing a 
safe in Meyer's pawnshop, at No. 528 Second Avenue, on the night of April 30, 1880, of 
$6,000 worth of watches and jewelry. His brother August was arrested in this case, 
tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years in State prison at Sing Sing, N, Y., on 
June 28, 1880. Herman was discharged in this case, as there was no evidence against 
him. 

He was arrested again in New York City on July 19, 1884, charged with burglar- 
izing a hardware store at No. loii Third Avenue, on July 17, where he obtained $800 
worth of silverware. For this he was convicted of receiving stolen goods, and was. 
sentenced to four years in Sing Sing prison on August 12, 1884. 

Ferdinand H. Hoefner, who had bought $200 worth of the stolen property from 
Herman, and who was used as a witness against him on the trial, was assaulted and 
terribly beaten by August Palmer, Herman's brother. For this August was sentenced 
to three years in State prison, for assault in the third degree, on September 19, 1884, 

Herman's sentence will expire on August 12, 1887. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in February, 1881. 



190 
HENRY HOFFMAN, alias MEYERS, 

alias James, alias May, alias Tanner, alias Francis. 
GENERAL THIEF AND RECEIVER OF STOLEN GOODS. 

DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-two years old in 1886. Jew, born in United States. Married. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 8J^ inches. Weight, 154 pounds. Black hair, dark 



268 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

eyes, dark complexion. Generally wears a black mustache. Big nose. Parts his hair 
in the middle. Has a Jewish appearance. Has " H. H." near wrist on right arm. 
Scar on left cheek. 

RECORD. 

Hoffman, which is his right name, is a well known New York thief and receiver, 
and has been arrested from time to time in almost every city in the United States. He 
has served two terms in State prison for burglary, and is a man well worth knowing. 

He was arrested in New York City on October 14, 1882, in company of Frank 
Watson, alias Big Patsey, and Julius Klein (191), and delivered to the police authorities 
of Boston, Mass. Hoffman, Watson and Klein were arraigned in court in Boston, Mass., 
on November 24, 1882, and pleaded guilty to breaking and entering the store of Mr. 
Thomas, No. 35 Avon Street, that city, and carrying away velvet and cloth valued at 
$1,000. 

Hoffman and Watson were sentenced to three years each in Concord prison. 
Their sentence expired on July 3, 1885. Klein was sentenced to two years in the House 
of Correction at South Boston. His sentence expired on October 2, 1884. 

During the months of October and November, 1885, two express wagons and their 
contents were stolen in Boston, Mass. The wagons were recovered, but their contents, 
valued at $4,000, were only partly recovered. Shortly after the robbery two notorious 
wagon thieves, named Stephen Dowd and WiUiam W. Alesbury, were arrested in 
Boston for the offenses. In Dowd's pocket was found the directions of Hoffman's 
house in New York City. Hoffman was arrested in New York, and part of the stolen 
property found in his possession. He was taken to Boston on December 15, 1885, and 
used as a witness against Dowd and Alesbury, who were convicted and sentenced to 
four years each in the Charlestown State prison. Alesbury has previously served a 
•three years' sentence in the same prison for a similar offense. 

Hoffman was arrested again in Baltimore on May 7, 1886, under the name of 
Henry Stiner, charged with burglary. He pleaded guilty on June 3, 1886, and was 
sentenced to five years in State prison. 

His picture is an excellent one, taken in May, 1886. 



191 

JULIUS KLEIN, alias YOUNG JULIUS, 

alias Samuel Frank. 
SNEAK, SHOPLIFTER AND PICKPOCKET. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-four years old in 1886. Born in Germany. Single. Furrier by trade. 
Slim build. Height, 5 feet 7^ inches. Weight, 122 pounds. Brown hair, hazel eyes, 
light complexion. Strong bushy hair. Has a mole on his left arm. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 269 

RECORD. 

"Young' Julius is a very smart young sneak thief and shoplifter. He is well 
known in a number of the Eastern cities, especially in New York and Boston, where 
he has served terms in State prison. He is a sneak thief well worth knowing. 

He was arrested in New York City in June, 1882, for the larceny of a gold watch 
from a passenger on a Long Branch boat. He obtained $1,000 bail and was released. 

He was arrested again in New York City in October, 1882, for the larceny of $100 
from a lady while she was admiring the bonnets displayed in a Sixth Avenue window. 
Although morally convinced that Klein was the party who robbed her, the lady 
refused to make a complaint against him and he was discharged. 

He was arrested again in New York City on October 14, 1882, in company of 
Henry Hoffman (190) and Frank Watson, alias Big Patsey, two other notorious New 
York sneaks and shoplifters, charged with robbing the store of W. A. Thomas & Co., 
dealers in tailors' trimmings, No. 35 Avon Street, Boston, Mass., of property valued at 
$3,500. All three of them were delivered to the Boston police authorities, taken there, 
tried and convicted. Hoffman and Watson were sentenced to three years in Concord 
prison, on November 24, 1882, and Klein to two years in the House of Correction. 

Julius was arrested again in New York City on November 27, 1885, in company 
of Frank Watson, alias Big Patsey, charged with (shoplifting) the larceny of some 
velvet and braid, valued at $60, from the store of A. C. Cammant, No. 173 William 
Street. Both pleaded guilty and were sentenced to one year in the penitentiary on 
Blackwell's Island, New York, on December 17, 1885, in the Court of General Sessions. 

Klein's sentence will expire on December 16, 1886. 

His picture is a good one, taken in April, 1882. 



192 

JOHN CARROLL, alias THE KID, 

alias Barnes. 

BANK SNEAK. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Twenty-three years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. No trade. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 3^ inches. Weight, 115 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes, straight 
nose, slim face, light complexion. Has India ink spot on left arm. 



RECORD. 



Young Carroll is a first-class bank sneak. He traveled through the country with 
Charles J. Everhardt, alias Marsh Market Jake (30), working the banks. Carroll was 
known as " Marsh Market Jake's Kid." A number of people claim that this is the boy 



2 70 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

that used to work with Rufe Minor, alias Pine (i). Such is not the case, as Jake 
brought this boy out and left him behind him in Baltimore. He is not the first man 
that Jake left behind. 

Jake and " The Kid " entered the Citizens' Bank in Baltimore, Md., on October 
22, 1885, and did what is called a " turn trick." A citizen, named Jeremiah Townsend, 
had drawn some money and was in the act of counting it, when Carroll, who gave the 
name of James F. Barnes, called his attention to some bills on the floor. While Mr. 
Townsend was in the act of picking up the money from the floor, Carroll snatched 
$525 of the money from the desk. He was not quick enough, however, as Mr. 
Townsend caught him and held him until he was arrested. Jake, as usual, made good 
his escape. 

Carroll, alias Barnes, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years and six months 
in the Maryland penitentiary, at Baltimore, on October 24, 1885. 

See Commutation Laws of Maryland for expiration of sentence. 

Carroll's picture is an excellent one, taken in October, 1885. 



193 
GEORGE BELL, alias WILLIAMS. 

PICKPOCKET, SNEAK AND FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty years old in 1886. Born in United States. Single. No trade. A well- 
built man. Height, 5 feet 115^ mches. Weight, 180 pounds. Brown hair, hazel eyes, 
light complexion. Vaccination mark on right arm. Small scar on right arm, above the 
wrist. Scar on right temple, over the eye. He is generally clean-shaven, and affects a 
staid and religious air during his operations. 

RECORD. 

George Bell is as good a general thief as there is in this country. He is well 
known in most of the principal cities in the United States and Europe, having operated 
with Charles O. Brockway, alias Vanderpool (14), the celebrated forger, on both sides 
of the water, and was considered one of Brockway's cleverest men. Bell has traveled 
considerably, but claims New York City as his home. He has been a professional thief, 
forger and manipulator of forged paper for years. 

He was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on March 25, 1876, and sentenced to one 
year in Cherry Hill prison. Shortly after his discharge he was arrested again, in 
Philadelphia, for a " pennyweight " robbery, and sentenced to eighteen months in the 
Philadelphia County prison. Early in 1880 Bell went to Europe with Al. Wilson, 
Cleary and others, for the purpose of flooding the Continent with forged circular notes. 
The scheme, which was managed by George Wilkes, Engle and Becker, proved a failure, 
and they returned to America. 



193 



194 



195 





GEORGE BELL, 
PICKPOCKET, SNEAK, AND FORGER. 



CHARLES WOODWARD, 

ALIAS THE DIAMOND SWALLOWER, 

SNEAK AND PENNY WEIGHT. 



JOSEPH RICKERMAN, 

ALIAS NIGGER BAKER, 

PICKPOCKET AND BURGLAR. 



196 



197 




198 




WILLIAM HAGUE, 

ALIAS CURLEY HARRIS, 

BURGLAR AND SNEAK. 



WALTER PRICE, 

ALIAS HENRY LEWIS, 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOP LIFTER. 



JOHN PETTINGILL, 
BURGLAR AND FORGER. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 271 

Bell, Charles Farren, alias the " Big Duke," and Henry Cleary, were arrested in 
New York City on July 27, 1880, charged with having defrauded the Merchants' 
National Bank and the Third National Bank of Baltimore, Md., to the amount of 
$12,000, by forged checks, on July 16 and 17, 1880. 

Farren was discharged for want of evidence. 

Cleary was claimed by the Albany (N. Y.) police authorities, and delivered to 
them, to answer a charge of forgery (a check for $490), for which he was tried, 
convicted, and sentenced to two years and six months in Dannemora prison, New York 
State, in November, 1880. 

Bell was delayed in New York City, by habeas corpus proceedings, until August 
1880, when he was delivered to Deputy Marshal Prey, of Baltimore, Md., and taken 
to that city by him. He was tried in Baltimore on November 30, 1880. The trial 
lasted until December i, when the jury disagreed. He was tried again on December 
16 and 17, 1880, with the same result. The venue was changed, and he was again tried, 
in an adjoining county. This trial resulted in a conviction, and he was sentenced to 
ten years in State prison on July 9, 1881. 

Bell's sentence will expire on October 9, 1889. (See records of No. 37 and George 
Wilkes.) 

When Henry Cleary's sentence expired in the Albany (N. Y.) case he was arrested 
at Clinton prison, Dannemora, N. Y., and taken to Baltimore, Md., where he pleaded 
guilty to forgery, and was sentenced to the Maryland penitentiary for five years on 
January 17, 1883, by Judge Phelps, of Baltimore, Md. 

His picture is a good one, taken in 1876. 



194 

CHARLES WOODWARD, alias WILLIAMS, 
alias The Diamond Swallower, alias Hoyt, alias C. B. 

Anderson, alias Henderson, 

SNEAK AND PENNYWEIGHT. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-five years old in 1886. Jew, born in America. Married. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 8^ inches. Weight, about 150 pounds. Dark hair, 
turning gray ; dark eyes, dark complexion. Generally wears a black mustache. 

RECORD. 

Woodward, alias Williams, is one of the most notorious sneak thieves and 
shoplifters there is in America. He is known all over the United States and Canada 
as the " Palmer House Robber." This thief was arrested in New York some years ago 



2 72 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

for the larceny of a diamond from a jewelry store. When detected he had the stone in 
his mouth, and swallowed it. He has served terms in State prison in New York, 
Pennsylvania, Illinois and Canada, and is considered a very smart thief. 

He was arrested in Chicago, 111., and sentenced to one year in Joliet prison on 
January 31, 1879, for the larceny of a trunk containing $15,000 worth of jewelry 
samples from a salesman in the Palmer House. The jewelry was recovered. 

Another well known sneak thief was also arrested in this case, and sentenced to 
five years in Joliet prison on February i, 1879. Since then, it is claimed, he has 
reformed, and I therefore omit his name. 

Woodward, alias Williams, was arrested again in Philadelphia, on April 16, 1880, 
in company of William Hillburn, alias Marsh Market Jake (38), and Billy Morgan (72), 
for the larceny of $2,200 in bank bills from a man named Henry Ruddy. The trio 
were tried, convicted and sentenced to eighteen months in the Eastern Penitentiary on 
April 26, 1880. 

Woodward was arrested again at Rochester, N. Y., under the name of Charles B. 
Anderson, alias Charles B. Henderson, and sentenced on September 18, 1883, to two 
years in the Monroe County (N. Y.) Penitentiary, for grand larceny in the second 
degree ; tried again the same day, convicted, and sentenced on another complaint of 
grand larceny in the second degree to two years more, making four years in all, by 
Judge Rouley, Judge of Monroe County, N. Y. 

His sentence will expire, allowing him full commutation, on September 18, 1886. 

His picture is a fair one, taken in April, 1880. 



195 
JOE RICKERMAN, alias NIGGER BAKER. 

PICKPOCKET AND BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Thirty-nine years old in 1886. Born in New York. Single. No trade. Medium 
build. Height, 5 feet 6^ inches. Weight, 145 pounds. Black hair, hazel eyes, dark 
complexion. Generally wears a black mustache. Two vaccination marks on right 
arm. 

RECORD. 

Joe Rickerman, alias "Nigger" Baker, so called on account of his very dark 
complexion, is a well known New York burglar and pickpocket. He is an associate of 
Will Kennedy, Joe Gorman (146), Big Jim Casey (91), "Poodle" Murphy (134), 
"Pretty" Jimmie (143), Jimmy Scraggins, and other well known New York thieves and 
pickpockets. He is pretty well known in all the Eastern cities, especially in Philadelphia 
and New York, where his picture is in the Rogues' Gallery. He has served terms in 
prison in Philadelphia (Pa.), Sing Sing (N. Y.), and in the penitentiary on Blackwell's 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 273 

Island, and is considered a very handy man with a set of tools. Of late years Joe has 
been traveling through the country, " stalling " for a gang of pickpockets. 

He was arrested in New York City and sentenced to three years and six months 
in Sing Sing prison for burglary, on September 15, 1881. 

His sentence expired on July 15, 1884. 

Rickerman's picture is a good one, taken in November, 1878. 



196 

WILLIAM HAGUE, alias CURLY HARRIS, 

alias James Martin. 

BURGLAR, HOTEL SNEAK AND MURDERER. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Forty-three years old in 1886. Jew, born in United States. Married. No trade. 

Medium build. Height, 5 feet 5^ inches. Weight, about 140 pounds. Looks like, 

and is, a Jew. Dark eyes, black curly hair, dark complexion. Generally wears a black 

mustache. Four dots of India ink on left arm. Has a vaccination mark and mole on 



right arm above the elbow. 



RECORD. 



"Curly" Harris is one of the most desperate thieves and ruffians in America. 
He is well known in all the large cities in the United States, especially in Philadelphia, 
where he makes his home. 

Harris, with " Brummagen Bill" and James Elliott, two other notorious Philadelphia 
thieves, robbed Hughy Dougherty, the minstrel performer, in a saloon on Ninth Street, 
above Jayne, in Philadelphia, some years ago. The thieves subsequently, in passing 
the corner of Sixth and Market streets, were accosted by Officer Murphy, whereupon 
Harris deliberately drew his revolver and fired. The ball, fortunately for the officer, 
struck the buckle of his belt, which saved his life. " Brummagen Bill " and Elliott were 
arrested and convicted, and sentenced respectively to eleven and sixteen years' impris- 
onment in the Eastern Penitentiary. Harris escaped, but was afterwards arrested in 
Pittsburg, Pa. The authorities of Philadelphia chartered a special car, and traveled 
westward after the fugitive criminal. While returning, Harris, with his hands still 
manacled, escaped from his captors, and although the train was traveling at the rate of 
forty miles an hour, he jumped from the rear platform of a car, and a diligent search 
failed to reveal his whereabouts. 

Nothing was heard of "Curly" for some years, and this was owing to the fact that 
he had been arrested and convicted in the northern part of the State of New York for 
a hotel robbery, and sentenced to six years in State prison. 



2 74 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

After his release he boldly went back to Philadelphia, and was arrested there for 
robbing the American Hotel. He was acquitted, however, and when the old charge 
against him for the Dougherty affair was spoken of, it was found that the minstrel 
performer and the officer could not be found to prosecute him. 

Harris was arrested again in New York City on May 6, 1880, and delivered to the 
police authorities of Philadelphia, charged with the murder of James Reilly, alias John 
Davis, another hotel thief. The murder was committed on August 25, 1879. Reilly 
resided with his wife on Orange Street, Philadelphia. Upon the day mentioned he 
was picked up bleeding in front of a saloon at Eighth and Sansom streets. On 
September 13, 1879, the wounded man died from a fracture of the skull. From facts 
subsequently gathered it appears that Harris met Reilly and asked him for some 
money, and the latter replied that he had none. He was then told to go to his wife 
and obtain some, which he abruptly declined to do. Harris, in his usual cowardly 
manner, drew a revolver, aimed it directly at his partner in crime and pulled the trigger. 
The cartridge did not explode, and the desperado then pushed the barrel of his pistol 
with so much force into one of Reilly's eyes as to fracture his skull and cause his death. 
Harris was tried and convicted in June, 1880, and sentenced to ten years in State prison 
on July 3, 1880, by Judge Yerkers, in Philadelphia. His sentence will expire on June 
3, 1888. 

His picture is a good one, taken in 1876. 



197 

WALTER PRICE, alias HENRY, 
alias Lewis, alias Gregory. 

PICKPOCKET AND SHOPLIFTER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-seven years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 8 1^ inches. Weight, 180 pounds. Sandy hair, gray eyes, 
light complexion. Sometimes wears a light beard ; generally shaved clean. Quite a 
clerical-looking old fellow. 

RECORD. 

Price is no doubt one of the most expert old pickpockets and shoplifters in America. 
He is known from Maine to California, and has served terms in prison in almost every 
State in the Union. This man generally works with a smart woman, doing the 
"stalling" for her ; he, however, is quite handy himself, and does considerable work 
alone. 

He was arrested in New York City, in company of one George Williams, for shop- 
lifting. He was charged with the larceny of a silver watch from a jewelry store. In 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 275 

this case Price and Williams, on a plea of guilty, were sentenced to six months in the 
penitentiary on February 18, 1875, i"^ the Court of General Sessions. Price gave the 
name of Louis Lewis. 

After this he is credited with serving another term in Sing Sing prison. 

He was arrested again in New York City, on November 24, 1879, under the name of 
George W. Henry, in company of Mary Grey, alias Ellen Clegg (i 15), another notorious 
female pickpocket and shoplifter. The complainant testified that Price and Ellen 
visited his establishment on November 24, and while Price engaged the attention of 
one of the salesmen by exhibiting a sample piece of silk, stating he wanted a large 
quantity of the pattern, Ellen, who carried a large bag or "kick," quietly slipped into 
its recesses $120 worth of silk which lay on the counter. As they were leaving the 
store, which was at No. 454 Broome Street, New York City, one of the salesmen missed 
the goods and caused their arrest. On the way to the police station, Ellen tried to 
drop the bag which was under her dress, but she was detected in the act. Both pleaded 
guilty in the Court of General Sessions, before Judge Gildersleeve, on December 16, 
1879, when Price was sentenced to three years in State Prison at Sing Sing, and Clegg 
to three years in the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, New York City. 

Price's picture is a very good one, although taken ten years ago. 



198 
JOHN, alias "JOE," PETTENGILL. 

BURGLAR, FORGER AND COUNTERFEITER. 

DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-one years old in 1886. Born in the United States. Single. No trade. 
Stout build. Height, 5 feet 6 inches. Weight, about 150 pounds. Blue eyes, very 
weak; light hair, Hght complexion. Thick lower lip, broad, high forehead. Has India 
ink marks on left arm and back of left hand. Small scar on back of neck from a boil. 

RECORD. 

Pettengill is an old New York thief. He is what may be called a general thief, 
as he can turn his hand to almost anything — burglary, boarding-house work, handling 
forged paper or bonds, counterfeiting, etc. He has been arrested in almost every State 
from Maine to CaUfornia, and has spent considerable of his life in State prison. He is 
well known in all the cities, and is considered more of a tool than a principal. 

He was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on June 24, 1875, and sentenced to two years 
in Cherry Hill prison. Since then he has served terms in Sing Sing prison. New York, 
and other places. 

He was finally arrested in the ferry house in Hoboken, N. J., on April 18, 1885, in 
company of Theodore Krewolf, charged with passing a number of counterfeit ten- 
dollar bills, of the series of 1875, on several shopkeepers in Hoboken. He was 
sentenced to six years in Trenton State prison for this offense, on July 22, 1885. 

His picture is a good one, taken in June, 1875. 



276 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

199 
SAM FERRIS, alias WORCESTER SAM. 

BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-six years old in 1886. Born in Canada. A French Canadian. Single. No 
trade. Height, 5 feet 8 inches. Weight, about 180 pounds. Looks something like a 
Swede or German. Brown hair, blue eyes, light complexion. Face rather short. Has 
a prominent dimple in his chin. Is thick set and very muscular. Has a quick, careless 
gait. Speaks English without French accent ; also, French fluently. He changes the 
style of his beard continually, and is " smooth-faced " a part of the time. Generally 
wears some beard on account of his pictures having been taken with smooth face. He 
drinks freely and spends money rapidly. He has a scar from a pistol-shot on his right 
eyebrow. 

RECORD. 

"Worcester" Sam is one of the most notorious criminals in America. He has 
figured in the annals of crime in the Eastern and New England States for years. He 
is an associate of Old Jimmie Hope (20), Mike Kerrigan, aHas Johnny Dobbs (64), and 
all the most expert men in the country. He has no doubt participated in every bank 
robbery of any magnitude that has taken place in the United States for the past twenty 
years. He is a man of undoubted nerve, and has a first-class reputation among the 
fraternity. His specialty is banks and railroad office safes. 

Sam is wanted now by the Worcester (Mass.) police ; also, for the robbery and 
alleged murder of Cashier Barron, of the Dexter Bank of Maine. He was in custody 
at Worcester, Mass., but escaped from jail there on April 5, 1872. He has never been 
recaptured, although there is a standing reward of $3,000 offered for him by the county 
commissioners. (See records of George Wilkes and No. 50.) 

Perris's picture is the best in existence. It was copied from one taken with a 
companion, and resembles him very much. 



200 
JOSEPH BOND, alias PAPER COLLAR JOE. 



BANCO STEERER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Thirty-six years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No trade. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 75^ inches. Weight, about 148 pounds. Dark hair, 
hazel eyes, light complexion. Generally wears sandy side-whiskers and mustache. 
High forehead. Looks somewhat like a Jew. 



199 



200 



201 






SAM FERRIS, 

ALIAS WORCESTER SAM, 

BANK BURGLAR. 



JOSEPH BOND. 

ALIAS PAPER COLLAR JOE, 

BANCO. 



TOM McCORMACK, 
BANK BURGLAR. 



202 



203 



204 




CHARLES WILLIAMSON. 

ALIAS PERRINE, 

BANK OF ENGLAND FORGER. 



JACOB SONDHEIM. 

ALIAS ALBERT WISE AND WILSON, 

PICKPOCKET, SNEAK, 
CONFIDENCE AND FORGER. 



LOUIS BROWN, 

ALIAS FRENCH LOUIE, 

BURGLAR, TOOL AND KEY MAKER. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 277 

RECORD. 

"Paper Collar" Joe is a well known banco man. He formerly hailed from 
Philadelphia, but is well known in New York and other large cities. He is considered 
one of the smartest men in the banco business. 

Bond was arrested in Philadelphia during the Centennial, and sentenced to one 
year in Cherry Hill prison on August i, 1876, for plying his vocation on a stranger. 
He has been arrested time and time again, but like all the men in that line of business, 
is seldom punished. He is credited with fleecing a man in Pennsylvania out of five 
thousand dollars in October, 1885, and at last accounts he had taken a trip to Europe. 

Joe's picture was taken in August, 1876. 



201 
THOMAS McCORMACK, alias TOM McCORMACK. 



BANK BURGLAR. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-three years old in 1883. Born in United States. Married. Machinist. 
Medium build. Height, 5 feet 8^ inches. Weight, 150 pounds. Hair black, turning 
gray ; dark gray eyes, very dark complexion. Looks like a Spaniard. Generally wears 
a full black whisker and mustache. Dresses well, and is a great wine drinker. 

RECORD. 

Thomas McCormack has had a checkered career and is a desperate man. He was 
associated from time to time with all the first-class bank burglars, and was implicated 
in many important bank robberies. Several years ago he shot and killed Big John 
Casey, another burglar, over a quarrel on the division of the moneys stolen from the 
Kensington Savings Bank in Philadelphia, which they and others had robbed on 
February 4, 1871, of a large amount of money. 

The bank referred to was robbed by McCormack, Casey, Dobbs, Brady, Burns, 
alias Combo, and three others. One of them during the day went to the presi- 
dent and represented having been sent by the Chief of Police to tell him that 
information had been received that either that night or the one following the bank 
was to be robbed. That he must not impart this information to any one, but that the 
Chief would send three or four policemen in uniform that afternoon, who were to be 
locked in the bank, and that the president could leave a porter with them. This pro- 
gramme was followed out, and two watchmen were left. When night set in they sent 
one of the watchmen out for beer, and during his absence bound and gagged the other 
and tied him up in a back room. On the return of the other they served him the same 
way, and then proceeded to rob the bank. They secured between $80,000 and 
$100,000. 



278 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

McCormack was arrested in New Haven, Conn., by Marshal Hamilton, on Sunday- 
evening, December 9, 1882, for breaking open and robbing a safe in Walpole, N. H., 
on the night of December 8, 1882. When arrested in New Haven he gave the name 
James Crandell. He was taken to Keene, N. H., on December 21, 1882, and upon 
an examination he was committed to await the action of the Grand Jury. He was 
indicted on April i, 1883. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight years in 
State prison on April 12, 1883. 

Sam Ferris, alias Worcester Sam, was with McCormack in this robbery, but 
escaped after a desperate fight with the officers, who only succeeded in holding 
McCormack. 

For further particulars see records of Nos, 89 and 131. 

His picture is a fair one, taken on June 27, 1877. 



202 
CHARLES WILLIAMSON, alias PERRINE. 

BANK OF ENGLAND FORGER. 



DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-three years old in 1886. Born in Malone, New York State. Single. Pro- 
fessional forger. Stout, portly built man. Height, 5 feet 9^ inches. Weight, 220 
pounds. Brown hair, hazel eyes, dark complexion. Generally wears a full black 
beard. Dresses well, and converses in an easy tone. 

RECORD. 

Williamson, alias Perrine (the latter is his right name), is one of the most extraor- 
dinary criminals this country has ever produced — a man of great ability, imposing 
appearance, and iron nerve. Himself and William E. Grey are credited with being the 
two smartest people in their line in the world. 

A man who gave the name of George A. Vincent, was arrested by the St. Louis 
police on February 29, 1884. The charge against him was attempting to pass forged 
drafts on New York City. Vincent had evidently set out on an elaborate scheme of 
robbery. He had opened accounts in several of the St. Louis banks, and at once 
began the deposit of a large number of drafts, and appeared, from the accounts, to be 
doing a very brisk business. He was a portly man, and would be described in brief as 
a " solid business man." The Chief of Police, who had carefully worked the case up, 
was convinced that his prisoner was a criminal of no ordinary type, and that he 
belonged to the upper circles of professional forgers. The police of St. Louis were 
detailed to look at the alleged Vincent, but not a man on the force had ever seen him 
before. A photograph was taken, and with a description annexed was sent to the 
police of several cities. At once came back a series of responses, and the man was shown 
to be none other than Charles Perrine, alias Charles J. Williamson, alias Charles 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 279 

Sherwood, alias Charles Cherwood, alias Stevens, well known in this city as a burglar 
and forger, and particularly valuable to the gangs of forgers as a " layer down " or 
presenter at the banks and banking offices of the forged paper prepared by other hands. 
His appearance was very much in his favor for his part of the business, and 
few of the extensive forgeries of a dozen years past were carried on without the 
assistance of Perrine, under some alias. He came of a family in the northern part of 
New York State, and has a brother-in-law now doing business in Wall Street, New 
York. His family, which is of the highest respectability, have long since cut off this 
member and utterly ignore him. 

He first came into the hands of the police about fifteen years ago, when, under 
the name of Stevens, he was convicted on a charge of burglary, a quantity of silk and 
fine cutlery having been removed by him from the bonded warehouse in Howard 
Street, New York City. He served four years for this (his time expired on March i, 
1873), and upon his release was not heard of again until August, 1873, when a 
wholesale scheme of plunder was started, and bonds to the amount of more than a 
million dollars were placed on the market. Among the bonds cleverly counterfeited 
were those of the Buffalo, New York and Erie Road, the New York Central and the 
Chicago and Northwestern. They were counterfeited so well that they readily passed 
muster before bank clerks and cashiers. The gang that was interested in the gigantic 
steal included Roberts and Gleason, Walter Stewart, alias Sheridan ; Steve Raymond, 
Spence Pettis (now dead), and Dr. Blaisell (now dead). 

Three different banking houses on Wall Street, New York, were forced into 
bankruptcy because of the number of the forged bonds which had found their way into 
the strong boxes of the firms. Among the houses victimized were the New York 
Guarantee and Indemnity Company and the National Trust Company. Perrine as 
Charles D. Williamson acted as the banker for the forgers, and all the bogus bonds 
passed through his hands and were by him put on the street. His share of the 
proceeds of the transactions, it is said, amounted to about $100,000. He was among 
the first of the gang to disappear when the exposure came. He went abroad, and for 
a time was lost in Great Britain. 

In 1875 2- "^3^" sold, or attempted to sell, to Rollins Brothers, of Broad and Wall 
streets. New York, a number of seven per cent, gold bonds of the Central Pacific road, 
California and Oregon branch. These were detected as counterfeits, and as the seller 
was to call on the following day with an additional number of the bonds, the Captain 
of the New Street police station was notified and took the man into custody. He had 
given the name of Howard, but he turned out to be the Charles J. WiUiamson who 
was " wanted " for the big forgeries of three years previous. He was taken to the 
District Attorney's Office, where from the pigeon-holes were drawn out a number of 
indictments against him in connection with the previous forgeries on the Buffalo, New 
York and Erie, and other roads named. The District Attorney insisted upon bail for 
the entire batch, and this making up a great aggregate, Williamson was unable to 
command it, and remained in the Tombs until his trial. This occupied several days, 
and a hard fight was made to save the now celebrated criminal, but he was convicted, 
and sentenced on October 31, 1876, to the limit of ten years in the State prison. Upon 



28o PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

motion of an Assistant District Attorney, who had conducted the case, an additional 
five years was added to the sentence — making fifteen years in all — because it was the 
second offense of the prisoner. He was sent to Sing Sing, and at once began plotting 
for an escape. He, with several other convicts, entered into a conspiracy. The bake- 
house was fired, and in the confusion which followed a number escaped. The majority 
were retaken, but Williamson got away. This was on June 26, 1877, about eight 
months after his arrival at the prison. 

He went to London, and there, under the name of Charles Cherwood, ahas 
Sherwood, was arrested in March, 1878, for some forgeries directed against the Union 
Bank of London, by which that institution was to be swindled by means of false drafts 
and bills of exchange on the Continent. The Scotland Yard force had made the arrest, 
and knowing that they had an American professional, they sent a photograph and 
description to New York City, and word was sent back telling who the man was, and 
giving his entire unsavory American record. He was tried, and received, after 
conviction, a ten years' sentence. He at once turned State's evidence, and by his 
information an extended conspiracy on the part of American forgers to operate in 
England and on the Continent of Europe was laid bare. Dan Noble, Joe Chapman 
and Clutch Donohue were arrested, and, on the evidence of Williamson, convicted. In 
return his sentence was shortened, and in October, 1883, he was released. 

Fearing to come direct to New York City, he took ship for Canada, and thence 
crossed the line, and about January 15, 1884, he was seen in New York, and then 
went West, to begin business at St. Louis. 

He was held without bail to answer the charges of the bank officials in St. Louis, 
but steps were taken to bring him back to Sing Sing, to serve the fourteen years and 
four months still charged against him on the books of the prison. 

Williamson was convicted in St. Louis, Mo., for attempting to swindle the St. 
Louis National Bank out of $6,500, by means of a forged letter of credit, and was 
sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary on February 11, 1885. 

See records of Nos. 16, 18, and George Wilkes. 

Williamson's picture, which was taken in England, is an excellent one. The Slate 
shows his handwriting. 



203 
ALBERT WISE, alias JAKE SONDHEIM, 

alias Al. Wilson, alias Jew Al, alias James T. Watson, 

alias Chas. H, Whittemore. 
PICKPOCKET, SNEAK, CONFIDENCE MAN AND FORGER. 

DESCRIPTION. 
Forty-three years old in 1886. A Jew, born in Germany. Married. No trade. 
Slim build. Height, 5 feet bYz inches. Weight, 120 pounds. Light brown hair, light 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 281 

brown whiskers and mustache, light complexion, blue eyes. Has a small India ink 
spot on the left hand between the thumb and forefinger, and a small dark mole on the 
back of the left hand. Two vaccination marks on each arm. Wears a No. 7 shoe. 

RECORD. 

Wise, or Sondheim (the latter is supposed to be his right name), is a very clever 
professional pickpocket, bank sneak, confidence man, forger and swindler. He is well 
known all over the United States, and has been arrested in almost every city in the 
Union, several of which have his picture in the Rogues' Gallery. 

He was arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 7, 1877, for a sneak robbery. 

He was arrested again in Boston, Mass., on July 10, 1880, charged with obtaining 
$1,000 in money from one H. P. Line, in July, 1875, by falsely representing to him that 
he had a large amount of jewelry in Adams Express Company's office, and showed him 
a bill of the goods marked C. O. D. This case was nolle prosequi, on account of some 
valuable information given by him to the police authorities in relation to some bank 
robberies. 

He was next arrested in Buffalo, N. Y., under the name of James T. Watson, 
tried, found guilty in the Superior Court, of forgery and swindling, and sentenced to 
five years in Auburn prison. New York, on February 7, 1883. 

The history of Watson's operations reveals a series of swindles such as none but a 
professional could have worked. About the middle of November, 1882, a stranger 
called at the Merchants' Bank of Buffalo, New York, and stating that he was in the 
lumber business, and wished to open an account, deposited $600 in currency. A simi- 
lar statement was made to the cashier of the Manufacturers and Traders' Bank of that 
city, and $1,000 was deposited there. Subsequently Watson deposited in the Mer- 
chants' Bank a draft for $1,700, made by the Second National Bank, of Wilkesbarre, 
Pa., upon the Fourth National Bank of New York. 

A draft for $3,400, made by the Cleveland National Bank of Commerce upon the 
Manhattan Bank of New York, was also deposited in the Manufacturers and Traders' 
Bank, Within two days Watson checked against these amounts, leaving but a small 
balance to his credit. Shortly afterward the Merchants' Bank discovered that the 
$1,700 draft had been raised from $17. The other draft was also shown to have been 
raised from $34. Search was made for Watson, but- he had flown, leaving no trace. 
Descriptions of the swindler and his operations were immediately scattered through 
the country. A New York detective, seeing the description, immediately associated 
the criminal with the well known professional " Al " Wilson. Wilson was arrested and 
held until some of the bank officers from Buffalo arrived to identify him. They were 
accompanied by Joseph Short, a boy whom Watson employed in his office. The latter 
immediately identified the swindler. Notwithstanding Wilson's protestations that he 
was not the man and had not been out of New York in six months, he was taken to 
Buffalo, indicted and held for trial. 

The trial took place on February 6, 1883, and the court room was crowded. The 
prisoner, who is a bright, good-looking fellow, appeared sanguine of acquittal, which 
feeling was shared by his counsel. The bank officials were positive that Wilson was the 



282 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

man, but their testimony was exceedingly conflicting. The office boy swore positively 
that Wilson and Watson were identical. The Maverick National Bank of Boston, 
learning of the arrest, sent a clerk, Henry A. Lowell, to ascertain whether the accused 
was the individual who swindled its institution of nearly $5,000 under like circumstances 
a short time before. Lowell identified the prisoner, and swore that he operated in 
Boston under the name of Whittemore. The defense produced a number of witnesses 
from New York, who swore that Wilson was in the metropolis when the crime was 
committed. Detectives from New York testified that Wilson was a professional thief, 
and had been so for years. Certain witnesses swore that the prisoner had worn a 
beard during November, and others swore that he wore only a mustache. 

The testimony being so conflicting, public interest was excited as to the result. 
The judge's charge was against the prisoner, and the jury retired at noon, returning at 
3:30 p. M., on February 7, 1883, with a verdict of guilty. Watson, who had looked for 
an acquittal, was surprised, but maintained his composure. Before the sentence was 
passed he made an eloquent appeal for leniency on the part of the court. He said that 
he had a wife and mother, who were left penniless. Rising to his full height, he denied 
that he was a professional thief and said that his innocence would be proved some day. 
He requested that he might be sent to Sing Sing instead of Auburn, which request was 
denied. The spectators in court were unanimously of the opinion that Watson is the 
coolest rascal ever seen. 

Sondheim's Boston operations were as follows: Some time in August, 1882, under 
the name of Whittemore, he went into the Maverick National Bank and deposited the 
sum of $2,000, announcing his determination to carry on business at the bank. The 
following day he entered the bank, bringing with him a boy whom he introduced as a 
messenger, and who, so he said, would transact his business for him. He then began 
to draw against the deposit until it was almost gone, when he reappeared and deposited 
a check for $5,000. 

The next day the boy also reappeared and drew one-half of the $5,000 deposited, 
and finished on the following day with drawing the entire deposit, minus about $17. 
Whittemore, after making a similar attempt upon another banking house in Boston, 
took his departure for Portland, Me., where he also tried to victimize a banking institu- 
tion. He then went to Buffalo, where he carried on the operations for which he was 
found guilty, as above stated. 

His sentence will expire September 7, 1886. 

Wise's picture is a pretty good one, taken in April, 1877. 



204 
LOUIS BROWN, alias FRENCH LOUIE. 

BURGLAR, TOOL-MAKER AND KEY-FITTER. 

DESCRIPTION. 
Fifty-nine years old in 1886. Born in France. Married. Machinist. Slim build. 
Height, 5 feet 10 inches. Weight, about 145 pounds. Gray hair, very thin ; hazel 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 283 

eyes, fair complexion. Large nose. Thin face. Small mole near right eye. Wife's 
name, Annie L. Wolf. 

RECORD. 

Brown, or French Louie, the name he is best known by, is one of the most 
expert burglars in America. His particular line is the manufacture of burglars' tools 
and making false keys from impressions in wax. He seldom takes a hand in a 
burglary, unless it is a large one. He generally paves the way for the operations of 
confederates, and works from 6 a. m. to 8 a. m. in the morning, when his operations can 
generally be carried on with impunity, as any person seeing him at that hour would 
fancy that he was simply opening the store for the day's business. French Louie has 
spent at least twenty years in State prison in America, two-thirds of it in Sing Sing 
prison. New York. 

Louie was arrested in New York City on July 15, 1877, in the act of committing a 
burglary at Nos. 27 and 29 White Street. He was convicted and sentenced to three 
years and three months in State prison at Sing Sing, N. Y., on August 16, 1877. He 
escaped from Sing Sing on July 16, 1878, and was re-arrested in Philadelphia, Pa., on 
February 18, 1879, ^'^^ returned to Sing Sing prison to serve out his unexpired time. 

He was arrested again in New York City, on August 27, 1881, for tampering with 
the padlock on the store of E. H. Gato & Co., No. 52 Beaver Street. There was 
$50,000 worth of imported cigars in the store at the time. Louie pleaded guilty of an 
attempt at burglary, and was sentenced to two years and six months in State prison, on 
September 12, 1881, by Recorder Smyth, in the Court of General Sessions, New York 
City. His time expired on October 12, 1883. 

French Louie was arrested again, under the name of John Yole, in Hoboken, N. J., 
on March 18, 1886, and sentenced to ninety days under the Disorderly Act. He had 
some tools and keys in his possession when arrested. His case was referred to the 
Grand Jury, which body failed to indict him. 

Brown's picture is an excellent one, taken in Philadelphia, Pa. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 285 



SEVERAL NOTABLE FORGERS. 



WHILE the records given in the preceding pages are those of the professional 
forgers of to-day, a few of the men who figured prominently in criminal 
proceedings in the past cannot be left unnoticed. Several of these have been lost sight 
of for years, and some are perhaps dead, but as their exploits shed light upon crimes of 
the past and point to a moral, their careers are certainly worthy of mention here. 

Walter G. Patterson was a quarter of a century ago classed as an expert forger. 
His first crime of note was on June i, 1861, when he succeeded in cashing at the 
Pacific National Bank of New York a check for $1,075. ^^ was made payable to the 
Hon. Simeon Draper, Commissioner of Charities and Corrections, and bore the forged 
signature of Henry Cam The forger was run down, but he was afterwards released 
on bail, which he forfeited and fled from the city. He was recaptured in June, 1865, 
and when called for trial pleaded guilty. Recorder Hoffman, before whom Patterson 
was arraigned, after the prisoner's confession of guilt, and upon a promise to reform, 
suspended sentence. In the August following the forger was again arrested upon the 
old charge, and the Recorder then sentenced him to five years in Sing Sing prison. 
Previous to his being brought up for the Pacific Bank forgery, Patterson was living 
with a woman named Ryan at Collins's Hotel, at the foot of Canal Street. The pair 
occupied costly apartments at the hotel, were spending money freely, and it was 
suspected that the self-confessed forger was concerned in the passing of several other 
checks, although it was impossible to fasten the crimes legally upon him. 

Vermillyea & Co., bankers of this city, in February, 1870, gave a certified check 
for $156, payable at the Bank of Commerce, to a stranger who had had a small business 
transaction with them. The draft was afterwards "raised" to $16,000, and deposited 
with the Mechanics' Banking Association for collection. The Bank of Commerce paid 
the check on their own certification. This led to a long litigation, which resulted in a 
verdict for the Bank of Commerce, the courts holding that it was only responsible for 
the original amount of the certification of the check. It was well known that Walter 
G. Patterson and Spence Pettis were the men who secured the large sum of money 
upon the raised paper. Pettis was an expert in the use of chemicals, and it was claimed 
that he altered the figures upon the check. 

When the forgery was discovered Patterson had disappeared. Pettis was arrested, 
however, but was afterwards released for want of evidence. When the case fell 
through the prisoner was sent to Boston, Mass., to answer for a forgery which he had 



286 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

committed there. Pettis was convicted of the latter offense, and while serving his 
sentence in the Charlestown State prison the convict hanged himself to the grating of 
his cell door. Thus ended the career of a most notorious criminal. 

John Ross, while plotting several gigantic schemes in 1866, lived in princely style 
at the Metropolitan Hotel. He ran an office in Exchange Place for two months, and 
during that period had large transactions with, brokers, buying and selling gold. In 
that way he secured their confidence. This obtained, he bought gold to the amount of 
$1,000,000, and gave his own certified checks in payment. The checks were worthless. 
A few days previous to the stupendous transaction in gold, Ross employed Garten & 
Co., of Broad Street, to buy for him a number of Western railroad bonds, for which he 
paid in good money. On the day of his disappearance Ross hypothecated for a loan of 
$17,000 from the bankers a bundle of bonds supposed to be the identical ones they had 
purchased for him. When, however, his forgeries became known, Garten & Co. 
discovered that the bonds on which they had advanced money to Ross were counterfeits. 

x^fter plundering right and left, Ross boarded a steamer for South America, 
leaving the vessel at Pernambuco, Brazil. He was tracked to Bahia and Rio Janeiro, 
and at the latter place all trace of the fugitive was lost. 

John Henry Livingston, alias Lewis, alias Matthews, alias De Peyster, on 
December 3, 1867, in the garb of an express messenger, with the words "American 
Express Co." upon a plate on the front of his cap, appeared at the National City Bank. 
From a large leather wallet the spurious messenger took a check drawn to the order of 
Henry Keep, President of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, and 
signed " C. Vanderbilt." The check also bore the endorsement, " American Express — 
collect and deliver at Albany — Henry Keep." Livingston presented the forged draft 
to Mr. Work, the paying teller, and requested that bills of a certain denomination be 
used in making up the package, saying that he would return in a few minutes, having 
another errand close by. On his return to the bank Livingston was handed the 
package, containing $75,000, the amount called for by the fraudulent check. 

With the money he fled to the West, where he purchased a farm and engaged in 
stock raising. He was captured there a year or so afterwards. There was a peculiar 
and interesting incident in connection with the search for the forger. The features and 
manners of Livingston were so impressed upon Mr. Work's mind, and his recollection 
of the entire transaction was so clear that it enabled him to draw a pen and ink sketch 
of the "layer down." The portrait revealed Livingston's identity and led to his arrest. 

The prisoner, when brought to trial, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to four 
years and nine months' imprisonment. His farm and stock were confiscated, and the 
proceeds of the sale given to the bank he had duped. 

Charles B. Orvis was in 1873 the proprietor of the City Hotel, and the place was 
then the rendezvous of the gang of forgers of which Roberts and Gleason were the 
leading spirits. The hotel keeper had long been a shady character. He was originally 
a "coniacker" (dealer in counterfeit money), and was first arrested at Cleveland, Ohio, 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 287 

with a confederate named Webster for passing forged bank-bills. They were convicted 
and sentenced to three and a half years each in the Columbus Penitentiary, and they 
served their full terms. 

Orvis, in June, 1873, while we was still running the hotel, had several financial 
transactions with the banking firm of George B. Ripley, at No. 66 Broadway. He was 
simply paving the way for the successful culmination of a well planned scheme. When 
he had at last established confidence and made his credit good, Orvis one day succeeded 
in borrowing from the firm $20,000 upon some forged bonds. Since then he has been 
arrested several times for defrauding various banking firms, and at present there are 
indictments against him on file in the District Attorney's office. 

The forger's audacity was most surprising. The New York Sun and Times, several 
years ago, exposed his character, and Orvis afterwards began suits against the news- 
papers for showing him up. The suits, of course, collapsed when it was proven that 
Orvis was really a dangerous criminal. 

George B. Watson was discharged from State prison in 1873, having completed a 
term of five years' imprisonment for burglary. Upon his return to the city the 
ex-convict married a very respectable young woman, and with his innocent bride went 
to live in a fashionable apartment house on Fifty-fourth Street, near Broadway. He 
had not been out of prison long before he entered into co-partnership with a forger, who 
took him in training. After the necessary education Watson started out as a full- 
fledged "scratcher." At the banking office of Samuel White & Co., on Wall Street, 
several years since, he disposed of some Government bond coupons, for which he 
received a due-bill calling for the payment of $125. Instead of presenting the latter to 
the cashier immediately, Watson waited until lunch-time, and then presented the claim. 
In the meantime he had raised the amount which the due-bill called for to $12,000, and 
just as the money was being handed to him the forgery was detected. Watson, who 
had been on the alert, fled from the office and escaped. 

When the gigantic fraudulent scheme to flood the market with forged New York, 
Buffalo and Erie Railroad bonds became known, Watson, who was concerned in the 
great conspiracy, fled to Europe. Upon his return, several years later, he was arrested. 
He was then a complete wreck from dissipation, and had to be assisted into the court 
room. His condition was so pitiful that the complainant asked for the discharge of the 
prisoner on his own recognizance. Watson was thereupon released, but he rallied, and 
a few months later on he was again arrested and brought up for a small forgery. 
Upon his conviction he was sentenced to the penitentiary, where he died before his 
term expired. 

Charles R. Beckwith was arrested January i, 1876, for robbing his employer, 
B. T. Babbitt, the soap manufacturer, out of $205,645 by means of forged receipts. 
Beckwith had been stealing for years before it was suspected that the funds of the firm 
were being made away with. He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Beckwith 
is at present living in Canada. 



288 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Thomas R. Lewis, the accomplice of Beckwith, who also realized about $200,000 
by making false entries in Mr. Babbitt's books, fled to Europe when the fraud was 
discovered. He was captured in London, England, and brought back. Upon his 
return to this city Lewis made restitution as far as he was able, returning altogether 
property worth $58,000. He was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years' 
imprisonment. Lewis died a few years since in Switzerland. 

J. Lloyd Haigh for many years held an exalted position in society, but like other 
good men he wandered from the path of rectitude, thereby destroying his good name 
and casting a dark shadow over that of his family. In 1879 ^^ ^^^ arrested and accused 
of hypothecating forged paper. He was indicted and convicted of forgery in the third 
degree, and on August 8, 1880, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. 

Lewis M. Van Eten, on March i, 1871, was paid $19,000 by the Park National 
Bank on a check purporting to have been drawn by Hall, Garten & Co., brokers, of 
No. 30 Broad Street, and certified by the Continental Bank. Upon the discovery of 
the forgery the Continental Bank refunded the Park Bank the amount they had paid 
on the check. After the forgery Van Eten disappeared, and remained away for some 
time. On- his return to New York he was arrested, and upon conviction was sentenced 
to a term of ten years' imprisonment in Sing Sing. He had not been long in prison 
before he was pardoned, but upon his release he was re-arrested for a forgery committed 
at San Francisco, Cal. While on the way to that place for trial. Van Eten committed 
suicide by swallowing a dose of laudanum, which he had kept concealed upon his person. 

Levi Cole, a man with innumerable aliases, figured as a burglar, forger and dealer 
in counterfeit money for many years. His first start in crime was handling spurious 
bank-notes. When the State banks went out of existence Cole turned burglar, and 
made a specialty of robbing the safes of country banks. His jimmies and other tools 
he expressed from place to place in a sole-leather gun-case. He was in the habit of 
calling at the express office with a game-bag over his shoulder and a cartridge belt 
around his waist. Cole would pass the day in the woods, and in the night the country 
bank would be robbed. He served two terms for burglary, and at the expiration of the 
second sentence went direct from prison to a Western city, where his brother kept a 
hotel. Cole demanded assistance, but it was refused, because, under promises of 
reformation, he had before deceived his brother. Upon the request being refused, the 
burglar and forger went to one of the rooms up-stairs and blew his brains out with a 
revolver. 

George Engles, the two Bidwells, and McDonald, with the intention of carrying 
out gigantic forgeries on an elaborate scale, went to England, and in 1871 commenced 
operations in Liverpool, where they obtained about ;^6,ooo. With this capital they 
proceeded to London, and opened a banking and commission house for the discounting 
and shaving of commercial paper. McDonald organized the firm under the name of 
"Warner & Co." He opened an account with one of the leading London banks, and 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 289 

bona fide transactions were conducted for some time. After gaining the confidence of 
the bank's officers, they commenced to discount the paper of Warner & Co., which had 
been presented for discount by their customers, some of the leading merchants of 
London. 

Previous to the consummation of the scheme, George McDonald and one of the 
Bidwells became infatuated with two women with whom they lived. Engles objected 
to this, fearing that his companions would reveal his secrets to their mistresses. 
McDonald and Bidwell were then residing at St. John's Wood, Kensington, London. 
The men refused to give up the women, and laughed at Engles, who threatened to cut 
off business relations with them. After the gang had realized about a quarter of a 
million pounds sterling Engles became frightened when informed that the women knew 
all about the scheme, and with his share of the plunder disappeared. When McDonald 
and Bidwell undertook to continue the business they were discovered, and the sequel 
shows that had it not been for the women in whom they had so much confidence, they 
would have escaped. 

In their recklessness the men presented one of the forged notes which had not 
been dated. The clerk discovered the error, and forwarded It to the firm by whom 
it was supposed to have been issued. They pronounced it a forgery. One of the 
Bidwells fled to Scotland, and was there arrested, and his brother was apprehended in 
Havana, Cuba. McDonald endeavored to get clear of his mistress, but could not. He 
induced her, however, to accept a passage ticket from Liverpool to New York, telling 
her that he would join her at the Northern Hotel before the steamer sailed. He did 
not attempt to meet her, but took a train from London to Folkstone, crossed to France, 
and took passage at Havre for this city. McDonald's mistress, becoming enraged at 
her disappointment, and suspecting the route her lover had taken to get away, betrayed 
him to the police. A cablegram was sent to this city, and upon the arrival of the 
steamer the fugitive forger was arrested on board the vessel in the lower bay. After 
months of litigation McDonald was returned to England, where he was convicted and 
sentenced to life imprisonment. The Bidwell brothers received like sentences. 

McDonald had just finished a sentence of five years' imprisonment for a forgery 
which he had committed upon Ball, Black & Co., the jewelers, when he set out with 
Engles and the Bidwells for Europe to execute the scheme of flooding the financial 
world with spurious Bank of England notes. 

George Engles is dead, and for other mention of him see records of George Wilkes 
and No. 18. 

Buchanan Cross was called " Colonel," on account of his frequent appearance in 
a sort of military-cut suit, which aided him many times in the laying down of forged 
paper. For this class of crime he was sentenced to Sing Sing prison, and while there 
he forged his own pardon and was liberated. Afterwards he was arrested and tried for 
forging the Governor's signature. Cross proved by the warden of the prison that it 
was impossible for him to have committed the forgery, on account of his not being able 
to get pen and ink. He was acquitted of the charge, but was detained to serve out his 
unexpired term. 



290 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

After his release Cross forged the name of Robert Bonner to a check for $3,156, 
on the Nassau Bank, New York City, being assisted in the crime by Charley Bishop. 
The latter went to the Ledger office and subscribed for the paper, and gave his address 
as at East Orange, N. J. Bishop gave a twenty dollar gold piece in payment for his 
subscription, and asked that a check for the change be given him, as he wished to send 
it to Orange. The request was complied with, and thus the forgers obtained Mr. 
Bonner's signature. The check was given to David Beech, alias Leach, who took it to 
Henry Siebert, engraver, at No. 93 Fulton Street, and ordered a book of blank checks, 
similar to the sample, to be printed for him. 

The blanks were taken to " Colonel " Cross, and he made out the check in the 
name of Robert Bonner. The money was obtained from the bank, and on the following 
day the forgery was discovered. Beech's girl was first arrested. She said that her 
lover had started for Boston the night before, intending to sail for Europe that day. 
He was arrested by the Boston police on the steamer just as the vessel was leaving the 
dock. Beech was sentenced to five years' hard labor and Bishop to three and a half 
years, on October 29, i860. 

Cross was arrested in Canada, but for want of sufficient evidence he was discharged. 

Charles Frederick Ulrich, a Prussian by birth, is one of the few engravers able 
to cut a United States Treasury plate without any assistance. He is the son of a 
jeweler and engraver of Dantzig, Germany. Ulrich learned the first part of his trade 
at his father's shop, and then finished at a regular establishment at Berlin, Prussia. He 
came to this country in 1853, being then about twenty years old. His career since has 
been a checkered one. Ulrich had been here but a few years before he embarked freely 
in the counterfeiting business, he doing all the engraving, which was a marvel of 
exactness. Among the plates which he engraved prior to his first conviction in 1868, 
were a $100 counterfeit on the Central National Bank of New York, a $100 counterfeit 
of the First National Bank of Boston, Mass., and a $100 counterfeit on the Ohio 
National Bank of Cincinnati. He printed and disposed of, without a glimmer of 
detection, all of these, and became quite wealthy, and then, in the early part of 1867, 
settled himself in Cincinnati for a final effort. He engaged a small house, and there 
began to engrave a counterfeit of the $500 United States Treasury note. He was 
engaged upon the plate when he was arrested, and sentenced to the Columbus, Ohio, 
penitentiary for twelve years. 

Ulrich served eight years of his time in the Ohio penitentiary, and in 1879, when 
arrested with Old Harry Cole and Jacob Ott, he made a confession in which he revealed 
some interesting information concerning counterfeiting. During the course of his 
statement he said : 

"Counterfeits are usually of small denominations, because there is more money in 
them for the wholesale dealer. A large bill will soon be stamped as a counterfeit, 
while the small ones can be changed from bank to bank, and people are not so shy of 
them. After I came out of the Columbus, Ohio, penitentiary, I started in the litho- 
graphing and engraving business in Cincinnati, but failed. Then I went to Philadelphia 
and took a house at the corner of Sixth and Cumberland streets. There I started to 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF A-M ERICA. 29 1 

engrave two $50 plates. They were counterfeits of the Central National Bank of New 
York and the Third of Buffalo. Before they were finished I moved to a place called 
Oak Lane, six miles from Philadelphia. When these plates had been completed, I 
started on a $5 plate. In October, 1877, I moved out to Sharon Hill, where another 
lot of fives and fifties were printed. The latter were on the Tradesmen's Bank of New 
York, and were sent to Europe. There were 2,000 fifties and 8,000 fives printed at 
Oak Lane, and 2,000 fifties and between 16,000 and 20,000 fives at Sharon Hill, in all 
nearly $350,000. There was always a man with capital back of me. I know one of my 
counterfeits just as well as a man would know his own handwriting." 

The first time Ulrich was arrested was in this city. He was caught at work upon 
a vignette for a counterfeit bank-bill, and upon conviction was sentenced to five years' 
imprisonment in Sing Sing. The counterfeiter only served three years of his term, 
when he was pardoned by Governor Morgan. He had been out of prison but a short 
time when he engraved the plate from which the Bank of England notes were printed. 
So well were they executed that the "water mark" was perfect. All these bills were 
received as genuine by the Bank of England, and an unlimited number of the counter- 
feits are believed to be still in circulation. 

Ulrich, before he became known to the police, served for eighteen months in the 
British army. That was during the Crimean war. He was, he claimed, enlisted in 
New York by an English agent, sent to Boston, and from thence by schooner to 
Halifax, Nova Scotia. As soon as his time was up he returned to the United States 
and became a full-fledged counterfeiter. He is now in Switzerland. 

For further mention of Ulrich see record of George W. Wilkes. 

Thomas Ballard, for years known all over the Union as the King of Counter- 
feiters, died while serving out a thirty years' sentence in the penitentiary at Albany, 
N. Y. He was a superior engraver, and the fine work on some of his bills was so 
cleverly and artistically executed as to deceive even the banks and the government. 
He was classed as a professional in 1865, and his work was then exceedingly fine. 
Previous to his arrest in October, 1871, Ballard carried on his operations near Buffalo, 
N. Y., being located in a lonely house on the outskirts of Beach Rock. He was dogged 
about for months before he was finally traced to his lair. One dark night his secret 
retreat was surrounded. As soon as Ballard became aware of the trap that had been 
sprung on him he tried hard to escape, but without avail. At his rendezvous a number 
of dies and other untensils of the counterfeiter's art were captured, including an 
admirably executed plate upon a Buffalo bank. Ballard was duly tried, convicted, and 
sentenced to the long term in the Albany penitentiary. While the counterfeiter was in 
prison he made use of his spare time to plan and perfect a valuable invention for regis- 
tering the actual number of papers printed by any printing press. He made several 
strenuous but fruitless efforts to invoke the clemency of the law for a pardon or a partial 
remittance of his sentence. 

William C. Oilman was not a professional criminal, still his forgeries, when tTiey 
were discovered in the fall of 1877, created the greatest excitement in Wall Street. He 



292 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

was an insurance scrip broker, at No. 46 Pine Street, and as his connections were very 
good indeed, his fall was thereby all the more deplorable. Oilman raised scrip of the 
Atlantic Mutual and Commercial Mutual Insurance Companies amounting to nearly 
$300,000, and his forgeries existed for years without discovery. He speculated on false 
capital, and each year his prospects of redeeming himself became more and more 
hopeless. His distress became daily more and more terrible, and these symptoms of 
trouble were obvious to his intimate friends, while the causes were unknown. Oilman 
was indicted for forgery in the third degree, the specific charge being for the forgery of 
a $10,000 insurance scrip on the Atlantic and Mutual Insurance Company, bearing date 
April 27, 1877, and the number 2,100. When the prisoner was arraigned before 
Recorder Hackett, in the Court of General Sessions, on October 12, 1877, one of the 
most affecting scenes ever witnessed in a court room took place. Oilman pleaded 
guilty to the charge, and, at the request of his counsel, the Court afterwards permitted 
the prisoner to read a confession he had made explaining the manner in which his. 
crime had been committed. The insurance broker's confession was as follows : 

October 3, 1877. 
To Rev. Dr. Houghton and My Dear Wife, Brothers and Sisters : 

It is proper to state certain facts in explanation, not extenuation, of my conduct. From the time I 
began business I had placed in my hands, by friends trusting me implicitly, sums of money ranging from 
$100 to $20,000. These sums would often remain undisturbed for weeks and months, and as I paid for the 
privilege, it was proper and was understood that I employed them in business ; I never speculated in stocks 
on margin, nor lost nor won money by any wager or game. I did make investments in enterprises which 
promised well from time to time, in good faith, and which turned out utterly bad. For this my judgment is- 
to be blamed. The possession of so much money and the control of it gradually made me feel and act as if 
it were my own, and encroachments upon it, whether from losses or expenses, which began many years ago, 
came so gradually that I was scarcely sensible of them, and, while I knew that I was running behind, I 
could not bear to look the deficiency squarely in the face, but hoped for better times. Times grew worse 
instead of better. The failure of the Sun Insurance Company and the vicissitudes of the other companies 
impaired the confidence of buyers in everything but Atlantic, and competition for that the last few years has 
carried prices so high as to leave no margin for profit, and has made the commissions utterly inadequate 
to meet the scale of expenses on which I was doing business and living. Consequently my business was 
greatly restricted. The worse my affairs grew the more unwilling I became to investigate them. My 
books and accounts, which had been my pride, were neglected. I drifted hopelessly in a sea of trouble, 
seizing every straw which seemed to give a little present help, and in some cases I allowed my reputation to 
suffer by long delay in making up accounts which were called for. This moral weakness was quite inex- 
cusable. How easy to say so now, but how hard it seemed to do what I should years ago have done in 
reducing expenses at home and in the office, and in resolutely closing accounts which were a temptation to 
me, and which, if honestly treated, must at that rate of interest have proved unprofitable. 

Prior to the panic of 1873 I had made improper use of trust funds in my hands under the pressure of 
declining business, and the troubles of that year involved me in additional losses. After that time the 
accounts in my hands began to be drawn on by the depositors more freely than before, and not unfrequently 
I found myself sorely pushed, but always managed to extricate myself without doing anything criminal, 
though I niust confess the moral baseness of my proceedings these many years. 

As nearly as I can remember I must have put forth the first " raised " certificate not quite two years 
ago. It was so easy to do it ! Yet what a struggle it cost me ! 

I have suffered more all these months in thinking of my baseness in abusing the confidence of my 
friends in No. 39 Pine Street, in the two insurance companies and in the bank, every one of whom has 
always treated me with the greatest kindness, than at the absolute wickedness of these crimes. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 293 

Blindly hoping that the next step would extricate me, I plunged in deeper and deeper. I hope I make 
it plain that my endeavor was to cover the deficiencies of a term of years. 

It is impossible for me to state without reference to memoranda, which' I have not by me, what 
amounts are afloat, but I am confident that there is nothing but what will be found at the American 
Exchange Bank, Union Insurance Company, Commercial Insurance Company, Henry Talmadge & Co.'s, 
and my friends will find the whole truth there. I have not sold any fraudulent securities, but borrowed on 
them. 

It is proper for me to say that I am alone responsible for every wrong act. No human being would 
have had a suspicion of it, and I alone am to blame for the false pride which has made me incur expenses at 
home and in my business which could not lawfully be met. My wife never persuaded me to any extrava- 
gance, and she would have accepted any restraint I might have put upon her. 

In addition to these fraudulent transactions other persons than those named must .suffer to a consid- 
erable degree — chiefly my brothers and sisters — probably to the extent of $75,000, and several other persons 
who have had accounts with me for years. I cannot now state amounts of these latter accounts approx- 
imately. 

To sum up briefly, I would say that a declining business, bad investments, heavy expenses, both 
business and domestic, and personal extravagance, have betrayed me. No, I must be just with myself, and 
confess that I have deliberately walked, in the clearest light and knowledge, in the face of the best 
instruction, into this pit. Some may call it madness ; I call it sin. Those who knew me in business rela- 
tions alone may not be aware of it, but every one who knows me personally will bear witness that my 
intimate friends and associates are all with some of the best and purest who ever lived. They know that I 
loved better to give away money than to spend it for myself ; they know that my thoughts and my interests 
were more with the various charitable works with which it was my happiness to be connected than on money 
getting, by right means or wrong. They will mourn with me that I should have valued the good opinion of 
good men more than a good conscience and my own self-respect. They will wonder how it was possible 
for a man to so far deceive himself as to believe that he really cared for and valued things that were true, 
honest, pure, just, lovely and of good repute, while, beneath a smooth surface, his heart was rotten and 
dishonest to the core. 

I suppose no one will be much surprised that suicide has been much in my thoughts for many years, 
and while I hoped that some change of fortune might avert the impending disclosure, I have feared for 
some weeks that it might be near at hand. I deliberated before this whether I should add sin to sin, but 
had resolved to meet the crisis as soon as it should come meekly and frankly. I have now but one desire, 
and that is to throw all possible light on every dark corner of these transactions, regardless of consequences 
personal to myself, and to aid in distributing everything that remains to those who are entitled to it. 
Then commending my wife and worse than fatherless children to God, how gladly, if it be his will, will I 
do penance for my crime in prison and pray for death whenever He pleases to send it — or, hardest lot of 
all, if life be possible to one who has forfeited the respect of every human being, I will try to live and to add 
not another stain to the name of 

WILLIAM C. OILMAN. 

Nearly every eye in the court room was moistened when the reading of the fore- 
going touching appeal had ended. Tears coursed down the cheeks of the stern 
Recorder as he proceeded to pass sentence. It was a moment of painful suspense for 
all in the court. He said : 

" After the representations which have been made and the statements which have 
just been read in court, statements made by the accused to those whom he loved dearest 
in life, I cannot be guided by my own feelings in this matter. I cannot depend upon 
them, and I have one of the greatest duties to perform that belong to any age. In 
view of the enormity of the crime the prisoner has committed, while feelings of the 
utmost sympathy were extended to his wife and family, I feel it my duty to pronounce 



294 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

the sentence of the Court, that the prisoner be confined in the State prison for the term 
of five years at hard labor,'' 

Sad as was the scene in the court room, there was another sadder still on 
December 3, 1879. ^^ occurred in the Yantic cemetery, near Norwichtown, Conn., when 
Oilman, who had been pardoned by Governor Robinson, fresh from Auburn prison, 
stood by the open grave of his wife. While in prison his daughter had died, and he 
was released in time to attend the funeral of his wife, whose heart had been broken 
with sorrow over her husband's sin. Oilman's false step will stand forever as a warning 
to others. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 295 



INTERNATIONAL FORGERS. 



SECRET HISTORY OF THE WILKES, HAMILTON, BECKER AND ENGLES GANG OF 

FORGERS.— THEIR CHIEF'S CONFESSION. 

THERE was a lively sensation during the Christmas holiday week, 1880, when brief 
cablegrams were received in New York City announcing that a skillful and des- 
perate gang of American counterfeiters and forgers, with their wives, had been arrested 
in Milan and Florence, Italy. The names of Willis and Burns and Hamilton were 
given as those of the ringleaders, and it was said that they had swindled, or tried to 
swindle, a large number of bankers in Europe. 

While in prison one of the culprits, the leader and arch conspirator, Henry W. 
Wilkes, alias Willis, was led to make a full confession. It was reduced to writing before 
the United States Consular representative. Colonel J. Schuyler Crosby, and filed among 
the police archives, only a brief reference to it being permitted to go to the press. 

The story, which is here given in full, is one of the most extraordinary chapters of 
crime ever printed. 

Henry Wade Wilkes, alias George Wilkes, alias Willis, the chief of the only 
international band of bond forgers and counterfeiters ever organized, with his boon 
companion, the notorious "Pete" Burns, alias James Joy Julius, fell into the hands of 
the Italian criminal authorities at Florence on Christmas Day, 1880, just after "Shell" 
Hamilton, alias Colbert, had been apprehended at Milan. Wilkes was, after several 
months, quietly released, and he returned to New York. Burns while in prison became 
aware for the first time of Wilkes's duplicity in making a confession, and knowing that 
he had been betrayed, choked himself to death with a prayer-book. His three widows 
are at present engaged in a litigation over his estate, which is said to be worth about 
$400,000. This money was Burns's share of the profits of the operations of the gang 
of which he was one of the leading spirits and Wilkes was the acknowledged chief. 
The band was composed of none but professional forgers, counterfeiters, and first-class 
"check raisers," and they operated with wonderful success in almost every city of North. 
America and Europe. They were not concerned in any paltry schemes, but only took 
part in well planned and gigantic plots. They realized altogether by their forgeries 
perhaps millions, and the lion's share of their plunder was afterwards squandered at the 
gaming table. The members of the international gang made New York, London and 
Paris in turn their headquarters, and flooded the two continents with their worthless 
bonds and securities. 



296 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Wilkes's standing among criminals may be imagined when it is known that " Andy '' 
Roberts and Valentine Gleason sought his advice before they attempted to dispose of 
any of the Buffalo and Erie Railroad bonds. George Engles (now dead) and Charles 
Becker, astute forgers as they were, were really only Wilkes's tools. In fact, during the 
past fifteen years forgers and counterfeiters of all grades sought his advice in all dan- 
gerous transactions. He was the power behind the throne in all stupendous swindling 
schemes. 

It was under his advice that Becker succeeded in carrying out the $64,000 check 
forgery on the Union Trust Company which bore the unauthorized indorsement of the 
New York Life Insurance Company. It was through influence that Wilkes succeeded 
in getting out of prison in Italy, and since his return here he has been shunned by his 
old associates in crime. 

The capture of Wilkes and the consequent breaking up of his gang, was owing to 
information furnished by the authorities of New York City to the various police officials 
in Europe, that Wilkes and his gang had sailed from America for the purpose of 
flooding the Continent with counterfeit circular notes, checks, etc. 

The confession alluded to was made at Florino, and is as follows : 

" I, Henry W. Wilkes, alias George Wilkes, was born in Highland Mills, Orange 
County, N. Y., on May 25, 1837. From the age of twenty to twentj^-seven years I was 
employed in different occupations by the Erie Railroad Company. I left the employ 
of that corporation for the purpose of becoming a professional gambler, and I followed 
that profession for many years. My first gambling house was situated at the corner of 
Broadway and Fourth Street, New York. I was in partnership with John Sollmon and 
Charles Schaeffer, and for two years and a half I devoted all my time to playing cards. 

" It was in the latter part of 1869 or the beginning of 1870 that I was first arrested 
by the New York police for forgery. A man named Sudlass was arrested with me. 
We were arrested for forging a check upon the Board of Education, and were also 
accused of other forgeries of minor Importance. After being kept in prison for three 
days we were brought before Judge Gunning S. Bedford and discharged. My next 
deed was to Induce several merchants and makers of brandies of New York and the 
West into a scheme by which they could introduce their liquors into New York at fifty 
cents a gallon. We succeeded in doing so by the aid of the Office of Appraisement of 
the Thirty-second District. That was at the time that the duty upon brandy was $2 
per gallon. James Black, John Sudlass and I were the principals in the 'brandy ring,' 
as we used to call it. James Pike, of Cincinnati, came to see us, and he had a talk with 
John Sudlass at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, but we declined to do business with him. We 
told the merchants to give us the names of the brandies that they wanted to introduce, 
and we would pledge ourselves to fulfil the bargain. By means of that swindling 
scheme we each made about $40,000. 

" Afterwards, in company with Joseph Chapman, of Fourth Street and Washington 
Square (who Is now in prison in Munich for passing and forging a greenback bill of 
$50 of the Tradesmen's National Bank of New York), and one Deneran, an Englishman, 
then temporarily living in New York, I went to Chicago, where I remained one day, 
and then we started for St. Joseph, Mo., where we stopped three days, trying to pass a 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 297 

forged draft for $6,000. We had the books of drafts made in New York by order of 
Chapman and regularly stamped. These drafts were upon a bank of Louisville, Ky., 
and others on a bank of Galveston, Texas. I do not remember the names of the banks. 
We were not lucky at St. Joseph. From there we went to Council Bluffs, and thence 
to Cheyenne. The Union Pacific Railroad then only ran to Green River. N. V. 
Clinton, a native of Indiana, was also with us, and was engaged in the same operations. 

" At Cheyenne Chapman cashed a draft for $3,000 by means of letters of introduc- 
tion he had secured from small banks in that locality. We proceeded to San Francisco, 
and upon arriving there I stopped at a hotel in the ' Bend ' of Bush Street. The others 
took residences in different hotels. On account of a telegram alluding to the exposure 
of the other forged drafts business with us was poor in San Francisco. We only dis- 
posed of a draft for $2,300. 

" Clinton obtained in San Francisco a letter of credit from the British Bank of 
North America on the same bank of New York City. I did not know the amount of 
the draft because Clinton refused to show it to me. He set out for Acapulco, where 
we joined him in a week, and then we all went to Panama. At Acapulco Clinton 
cheated several bankers, but I never knew how much he realized. On the steamer 
between Acapulco and Panama Clinton robbed a cabin mate of a letter of credit, upon 
which he got $600 at Panama. This letter was addressed to Duncan, Sherman & Co., 
and their agent paid the amount, but had Clinton arrested before the steamer could 
leave. He was arrested while I was en route to New York, having left Chapman, 
Denevan and Clinton behind. I reached New York in October, 18 71, where I 
remained one day, starting on the next to Boston to visit my wife, who was living 
with the family of a coffin maker. Returning to New York, I stopped for two weeks 
at the house of Mrs. Sartorio, in West Twenty-first Street, near Sixth Avenue. 

" Next I proceeded to New Orleans with my wife and thence to Havana, for the 
purpose of meeting Chapman, according to an agreement we made in Panama. He 
was anxious to get rid of the others. While we were in San Francisco Chapman had 
obtained a draft for a small sum from the British Bank of North America. This draft 
was raised and altered by me to $5,000, and was negotiated by Chapman by means of 
a false letter of introduction from Panama. 

" Upon rejoining Chapman he came with us back to Boston, where we took up a 
residence at the St. James Hotel. Then we went to Norwich, Conn., where I left my 
wife with the Peakes family. Chapman and I then set out for Philadelphia, where we 
were joined by George Barlow, and then we set out for Chicago. We supplied ourselves 
with money by altering and raising a small draft to the sum of $1,600, which Chapman 
collected. Barlow also bought a small draft in Chicago, which I raised to $5,000. 
From Chicago we went to Louisville, Ky., and there Chapman disposed of the latter 
draft to the Trades Bank of that city. We paid another visit to Boston, where I passed 
a month with the Peakes family. 

" From Boston Chapman, Barlow and I went to Montreal, Canada, where we took 
rooms at a hotel. We tried to effect some business, but could not. From Canada we 
hastened to New York, where Barlow and wife, I and mine, hired a small house at 
Thirty-seventh Street and Seventh Avenue. 



298 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

" Chapman followed us a week later. Knowing that the police were looking for 
us, we remained idle. Meanwhile Clinton succeeded in escaping from the prison at 
Panama by corrupting his keepers. He joined us in New York. During the five 
months that we were idle we were preparing for new operations. 

"We succeeded in securing several certificates of deposit from Duncan, Sherman 
& Co., and we had note paper printed with the same heading as theirs, also envelopes. 
This work was done by order of Chapman or Clinton. We obtained other certificates 
from other bankers in New York — one on Alexander Bronson & Son, which certificate 
we tried to use in Richmond, Va. I altered that certificate from $15 or $16 to $1,500 
or $1,600. I set out for Mobile, Ala., to await the arrival of my associates there. 
Chapman presented his certificate of deposit in Richmond, got the money, but was 
arrested before he could leave the city. When captured he had all the money on him, 
which was confiscated. Clinton left before Chapman was arrested, with several certifi- 
cates of deposit, and he was arrested in Virginia while attempting to dispose of some 
of them. Barlow was the only one who joined me in Mobile. This was in the winter 
of 1874, and during that time I again became a professional gambler. 

" Barlow went back to Philadelphia, and thence to Indiana, where his wife was 
living on an estate. On his way he stopped at Richmond to leave money collected for 
Chapman, who was still in prison awaiting trial. Within eight months Clinton returned 
to New York, and during all that period I was living at the house of Mrs. Sartorio, on 
Twenty-first Street. Barlow, upon coming back, joined Clinton and myself, and we 
went to Cincinnati, where Barlow lived with me in a small hotel. There we became 
acquainted with Eph Holland, Pat Riley, and one Hogan. We easily obtained there 
drafts of small denominations from several bankers, which we altered and raised to 
large sums. Barlow 'laid down' one of these raised drafts. He bought a horse and 
collected the balance of $1,300 or $1,400. We went to Cedar Falls, but being unable 
to pass any drafts returned to Cincinnati. Barlow and Clinton proceeded to Kentucky. 
I remained in Cincinnati. 

" Barlow presented a draft for $6,000 in Kentucky, received the money, and was 
arrested. I heard of the arrest from Clinton, and set out at once for New York, where 
I remained all winter. Clinton remained behind. My next transactions were with 
Webb, an Englishman, with whom I forged several small checks on banks, using the 
name of Hunt S: Co., Broad Street. It was ' Tall ' Barlow, the brother of George, who 
obtained the small checks. He used to live opposite the Greenwich Bank, on Hudson 
Street. By these checks we made between $8,000 and $10,000. In the winter of 1876 
we went to Chicago with Phil Hargraves, an old time forger, of Charlton Street, between 
Hudson and Greenwich Streets. 

"In Chicago we stopped at the St. James Hotel. We intended doing business 
with Milwaukee from Chicago. Our plan of operation was : We would go to some 
banker in Chicago and buy drafts payable in New York, and would request them to 
send our signatures to their correspondents in Milwaukee, or to such places as we 
intended working. We thus gained their confidence. After two or three genuine 
transactions we would send out a false draft. Webb bought a small draft, which I 
raised to $3,000, which was paid in Milwaukee. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 299 

"After an absence of six weeks Hargraves, Webb and myself returned to New- 
York, where we met Chapman. Then the four of us made a trip to New Orleans. 
We bought paper there and worked in the same manner. Webb, after several attempts, 
did defraud a banker of Galveston out of $4,000. Chapman worked Vicksburg, where 
he got $2,000. Then we all went back to New York and thence directly to Sacramento, 
Cal., with Hargraves and wife and I with mine. At the latter place I engaged a fur- 
nished house on I or K Street, and Hargraves proceeded to San Francisco to await us. 
We began operations in Sacramento by buying genuine drafts from D. O. Mills & Co. 
from Sacramento to New York, making the same demand to forward our signatures to 
Portland, Oregon. 

" Chapman made two journeys there, but did not succeed in making anything. 
I then changed our plans. Chapman went to St. Louis and Hargraves and Webb 
remained in San Francisco. We took all the money that we could control (about 
$10,000) to St. Louis, and there bought a draft for that amount from the Planters' 
Bank, and we sent the same by express to Webb in San Francisco. He deposited 
the draft in the Bank of California and obtained blank checks, thus gaining an 
introduction. 

" He then sent us a draft bought of Hiscock, or Hitchcock & Co., of San Fran- 
cisco, and Chapman presented it to their correspondent in St. Louis. We sent the 
money again by draft to Webb, and he collected it through the Bank of California. 
Webb also sent us a second draft while there was one in existence on the firm of 
Hiscock & Co. One was for a small amount and the second for a large one. Chapman 
collected the latter, and subsequently took a small draft from the Planters' Bank of 
St. Louis. The two small drafts were raised to $8,500, the other for $7,500 or there- 
abouts. These were sent to Webb, in San Francisco, and he obtained the money. 
The draft to Chapman by Webb was presented to a correspondent of Hiscock & Co., 
but he being unable to answer some few questions satisfactorily it was not cashed. 
Our operations finished, we all met by arrangement in Springfield, Mass. Chapman 
preceded us. From there we went to New York. Hargraves started business with 
' Jem ' Mace, the pugilist, in West Twenty-third Street, near the Masonic Temple. 
Webb returned to his home in England, Chapman and myself remained and worked 
together in Boston. 

" My next transaction was in Central Pacific bonds that Chapman received from 
some of his friends in Williamsburg, N. Y., one of them being Charles Becker. We 
went to Chicago, where we readily disposed of $10,000 worth of the bonds. Chapman 
gave fifty per cent, to the forgers, and the rest was divided equally between him and 
me. These bonds were of the value of $1,000 each, and I wanted to take some of 
them to Europe in company with a certain Joseph Spencer. We sailed to Liverpool, 
England, having in our possession seventeen bonds of $1,000 each. We stopped at 
the Adelphia Hotel, and we cautioned Chapman to cable us in case the scheme should 
be discovered before we reached England. We offered one of the bonds to a broker 
in Liverpool, but as he seemed to think that there was something wrong I left it with 
him, and on my arrival at the hotel I found a cable message from Chapman, stating 
that everything had been discovered. We had only time to jump into a coach and 



■300 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

drive out of the city, where I destroyed the remainder of the bonds and threw the 
fragments into the River Mersey. 

" From Liverpool we went to London, but discovering that the poHce were on the 
lookout for us we sailed back to America by the steamer City of London, having first 
spent a week in the Inns of Court Hotel. Upon our return to the United States 
Spencer and I went to Baltimore. Separating from Spencer I joined Chapman, Joseph 
Reilly, alias ' Little Joe,' and Oscar Decker, a professional bank burglar, who at the 
time were in Baltimore. 

" We started business in Philadelphia in this manner. We would write to some 
bank in Philadelphia, receiving an answer on their form of printed envelope and note 
paper, also their handwriting, which we familiarized ourselves with, also obtaining a 
list of their correspondents in Chicago and Cincinnati. Then we would buy drafts for 
small sums, raise them to larger amounts, and send them to the correspondents with a 
forged letter of introduction to the correspondents, and they would cash them. Chap- 
man and Decker presented drafts in Chicago and Cincinnati, obtaining $13,500. 
I disagreed with Chapman and Reilly as to their mode of doing business, and left them 
for New York. I there became acquainted with John Phillips, who had just been 
liberated from Moyamensing prison after serving a term for burglary. 

" Decker, Phillips and wife, and myself and wife took passage on the steamer 
Adriatic for England. We had with us several bonds that had been stolen from the 
Bank of Trenton, N. J. They consisted of thirteen bonds of the Northern New Jersey 
Railroad of $1,000 each, one of the Oregon Central Railroad, one of the Central Pacific 
Railroad, three of Iowa City and other bonds which we sold to our friends. 

" On reaching England Decker and I lived with the family of John Carr, at 
Pimlico. Phillips took up quarters at the East End of London, and there Phillips 
disposed of the bonds to his friends for ^900. Before starting for England we had 
decided with some of our confederates to make a letter of credit on Bosrole Brothers. 
One of the confederates was the notorious ' Andy ' Roberts. I returned with my wife 
to New York. Phillips and Decker followed me. They immediately returned to 
England and Roberts and I sailed after them on the steamer City of London. As soon 
as we got there we went to work lively, but during our stay of a month we were unable 
to do any business, although we had a genuine letter of credit for ^500 on Bosrole 
Brothers. On the next trip of the City of London we returned to New York, and went 
to live on Third Avenue, four doors above Twenty-fifth Street. 

" We remained a little while in New York and then made up the combination of 
Decker, Phillips, Roberts and myself to take to England forged bonds of the Buffalo 
and Erie Railroad, which, if properly filed and collected, would amount to the value of 
$200,000. We obtained them from Roberts in an unfinished state. 

" I went with Roberts to London by the steamer City of Brooklyn, Phillips and 
Decker following. I first resided with Decker and his wife at Chelsea. There we 
were joined by others— Joseph Reilly, alias ' Little Joe," Joseph Chapman, Samuel 
Perry, alias ' Worcester Sam,' and Walter Sheridan. They came for the same business, 
having with them forged bonds of the Chicago, Western and Southern Railroad to the 
amount of about $150,000. We had a consultation and decided to join issue with each 



FROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 30 1 

other. ' Andy ' Roberts prepared the Buffalo and Erie bonds, and Walter Sheridan 
the Chicago, Western and Southern Railroad bonds. 

" Amsterdam was the place selected for the starting of operations. Sam Perry- 
made an attempt there to sell $50,000 worth of the forged Chicago, Western and 
Southern Railroad bonds by means of frauds on the United States Consulate. The 
entire scheme failed, as there were no bonds of that sort yet on the foreign market. 
While we were traveling from place to place endeavoring to dispose of these bonds, 
Phillips' brother-in-law, who lived in Gravesend, hearing that the police were about to 
search his house, destroyed all the models and blanks of the Buffalo and Erie bonds. 

" I then cut off all business relationship with them and returned to New York 
alone. I had saved a large sum of money and for two years did nothing, during which 
time my wife died. It was during my first voyage to California that I first became 
acquainted with my present wife. 

" I next conspired with John Donohue, Charles King, James Green and Philip 
Hargraves to buy $50,000 worth of counterfeit greenbacks and take them to Europe. 
Hargraves bought them from Charles E. Ulrich aud William E. Gray, paying twelve 
and one-half per cent, of their nominal value. (Ulrich and Gray were afterward 
arrested and convicted.) I sailed for Europe on the steamer Donan with Green, stop- 
ping in England in a house on Tottenham Court Road. King went to the house of 
some friends, and Donohue took up quarters in a small hotel on the Strand. Our first 
meeting took place, according to agreement, at St. John's Wood Station, Marlborough 
Road. We met there every day. Our plan was to send out two gangs, one to start 
from Naples and the other from Vienna, and try to dispose of the counterfeit green- 
backs along the road. Green and King, who were to start from Naples, took with 
them $20,000 worth of that money. Not knowing the language and customs of the 
country they became scared and did no business. They returned to Paris, where I met 
them at the Hotel du Louvre. 

" Chapman and Donohue started business in Vienna and there sold $5,000 worth 
of forged bank-notes of the Tradesmen's National Bank and of the Broadway National 
Bank of New York, of the denomination of $50. They were on their way from Vienna 
to Munich when Chapman was arrested. Donohue telegraphed me at the Hotel du 
Louvre that 'the family was ill.' 

" I informed my associates Green and King, and we immediately went to London. 
I met Green and Donohue several times after. The latter took passage for Canada, 
where he sold $15,000 worth of forged bank-notes at fifteen per cent, of their face 
value. During the first week of the Paris Exposition we disposed of a large quantity 
of the forged bank-notes. I returned to New York by the steamer Adriatic and joined 
my wife, who was stopping at the Maison Cortoni. 

" My next speculation was the putting in circulation of forged letters of credit of 
the London County Bank. The genuine letter was bought by me from Frank or 
Valentine Gleason in London. It was a certificate and letter of identification for ;^io. 
I gave him ^20 for it. I gave it to John Ouinn, who was then living in Twenty- 
seventh Street, near Lexington Avenue. He gave it to one of his confederates, who 
raised it to ^600 in bank-notes and 100 letters of identification. 



302 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

"Quinn, Hargraves, John Conn and an Englishman named William Griffis, alias 
'Lord Ashburton,' alias 'Saville,' then went to work. Quinn, Hargraves and Griffis 
proceeded to Canada. There Griffis presented a bank-note for ^1,200, and received 
the money from the Bank of Montreal. He gave Hargraves and Quinn £<:)00 in these 
notes, keeping ;^i,ooo of them, with which he went to Quebec. There he said that the 
fraud had been discovered, and we all left for New York by different routes. This 
statement was afterwards found to be untrue, and we later on learned that he sold a 
portion of the bank-notes and purchased jewelry with the balance at Kirkpatrick's, 
Nineteenth Street and Broadway. 

" Griffis, upon ascertaining that we had unearthed his duplicity, suddenly left for 
San Francisco, where he was arrested. Jack Cannon (now dead), who was in the habit 
of only handling stolen bonds, and William Bartlett, alias ' Big Bill,' of Brooklyn, were 
afterwards sent out with the bank-notes. They were given /"ijOooin counterfeit money 
of the Bank of England, which was disposed of in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cincin- 
nati. I remained all this time in New York, superintending the forged bank-note 
business. 

" I next entered into partnership with George Engles and Peter Burns. They 
proposed that we should go to Europe and study the way Seligman & Co., of New 
York, did business with their agents in London. Engles had a genuine draft of Selig- 
man & Co., and he was to counterfeit the blanks during our absence, Peter Burns and 
wife and myself and wife left New York in February, 1879, fo'^ England on the steamer 
Germanic. Arriving in London we took rooms in the Inns of Court Hotel. Before 
leaving New York we bought a draft for not less than _;^i,ooo from Seligman & Co. on 
their agents in London, and one of ^10. Burns collected the big draft and I the 
small one. 

"When presented to Seligman's agent the drafts were certified and stamped with 
the signature of the firm and the stamp on the back. I took a copy of the certificate 
and a drawing of the stamp, with which Burns and I returned to New York. Burns 
left his wife in London, on Oxford Street, near Hyde Park. We gave George Engles 
the drawing of the stamp and the copy of the signature. He made a good cut of the 
stamp on wood and also of the signature. We then sailed back to London on the 
steamer Wieland. I took my wife. In London we took quarters in a house on George 
Street. Burns went to his wife on Oxford Street. The rest of the party consisted of 
Decker, Edward Howard, ' Al ' Wilson, who was known as ' the Jew,' and a man named 
Connor. 

" Before commencing operations I presented a draft of Seligman & Co., in London, 
for ^2,000, to see if they would make any difference between drafts representing big 
sums or small ones. The forged drafts were all prepared in New York by Eno-les 
before we left America, with the exception of the number that was to be added by me 
upon the back. Two days after this draft was presented and collected three forged 
drafts were presented in succession payable by Smith, Payne & Smith, of Lombard 
Street, for a total of ;/^8,ooo. 

" I had perhaps better explain more fully how these operations were conducted. 
We bought also, in New York, three small drafts at the same time that we bought the 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 303 

one for _j/^2,ooo, with the intent to present them to Seligman & Co., to obtain the 
number to put upon the backs of the forged drafts. The forged drafts were presented 
by Howard, Cannon and Wilson, and were all paid by Smith, Payne & Smith. Edward 
Howard was once in prison for forgery, in which Barlow had a hand. His residence is 
New York, where he was once a policeman. Cannon and Wilson both live in New 
York. 

" All of these people were found by Engles, and I was unknown to them. Decker 
acted as middle-man between them and me. Howard, Cannon and Wilson, after 
collecting their share, left the same evening for the Continent, thence to New York. 

" One week later Burns and I left for Paris, and after five or six weeks I returned 
with my wife to New York by the steamer Pereire, via Havre. That was in June, 
1879. Burns lived in Paris and Decker in London. Upon my return to New York I 
boarded at the Belvedere House for two months and then went to board in a private 
house opposite Washington Square. 

" During this time I was conspiring with Burns and Decker, who were in London. 
One day I received a cable message from Burns saying that he wanted to see me. In 
a letter which preceded it he told me that he had something good on hand, and I was 
to share it with him. I sailed with my wife and a friend on the steamer City of Berlin. 
In London we took rooms on Southampton Street, and on arriving we communicated 
with Burns and Decker. This was in the latter part of 1879. They explained that 
they had found two Frenchmen, one named Picou or Pick and the other a Dr. Hammel. 
The latter had received a druggist's diploma. They said that they could forge and 
alter three per cent. French certificates. The work was done entirely by Picou and 
Dr. Hammel. 

" It took them three weeks, during which Burns, Decker, myself and our wives 
went to Paris. I stopped at the Hotel de Russie and Burns at the Hotel du Louvre. 
Decker and Burns took a flying trip to Brussels for the purpose of passing a few notes 
of the Bank of England, obtained from the forgeries made against Seligman & Co. 
Decker was arrested and is now serving his sentence in the prison of Grand Belgium 
under the name of John Mills. Burns rejoined me. While in Paris in the early part 
of that year Oscar Decker came to me and said that he had a stolen letter of credit 
which was issued by Brown Brothers, of New York. He then made a voyage to 
Madrid to dispose of the remaining forgeries on Seligman & Co. He stopped at 
Biarritz and another adjoining city, and collected in all 6,ooof. The letter he spoke of 
had been altered by him while in New York. 

"The French certificates were now ready, having been made in John Phillip's 
house, at No. 3 St. James Place, Forrest Lane. 

" I put the signature on them. We then decided to send Picou and Hammel to 

Naples to meet there a certain Baron (a Frenchman who had a bank account). 

We also decided that the Baron should dispose of the certificates in Naples, or where- 
ever he could. I think he sold one in Rome and nine or ten in different other localities. 
In this journey they went as far as Vienna. They told Phillips, who was with them, 
that the police were after him. He fled to London, leaving them all the valuables — 
about twenty certificates. Those that could not be disposed of were sent by express to 



304 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Dr. Hammel, who made his headquarters at Munich. About nine were sent back and 
eighteen or nineteen, of the value of lo.ooof., were kept. There were twenty-nine 
documents forged, of the nominal value of 240,ooof. In 1880 Dr. Hammel and his 
wife disappeared, and it is supposed that the pair joined Picou and the Baron. 

" I next became associated with George Engles, Charles Becker, Shell Hamilton, 
William Bartlett, Edward Burns, Edward Cleary, ' Al ' Wilson, 'the Jew,' George 
Bell, and an old man known only to me as ' Andy.' They all came from America, and 
were under the management of Engles. Decker and Engles brought with them a letter 
of credit on the Societe Generale of Brussels. It was their intention to take five 
different directions on the Continent and to defraud all the bankers that they met in 
their way. Before they proceeded they decided to try places with genuine letters of 
credit, which they were unable to get, and abandoned for the time being. During this 
time Engles and wife went to Paris to see some relatives, and to procure rooms where 
we could safely talk business. He changed his mind and returned to London. 

" Our next move was to send Bartlett, Cleary and Wilson to Toulon, Brussels, 
Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen, with instructions to procure 
drafts from bankers on their correspondents in London. They had to make several 
trips before they could study the way and means of doing business of the bankers. 
The last voyage was made to Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle, when we heard that 
Inspector Byrnes, the chief of detectives, had cabled to the London police all the 
names of the individuals that had left New York. Fearing arrest, we abandoned the 
scheme and paid the passage of the men back to America. Hamilton, Engles and 
Becker remained to do other business. We had previously engaged rooms at No. 5 
Fincheley Road, where Hamilton, alias Neilson, resided with us. I went to Brussels 
with a Mr. Coswell, whom I made believe that I could buy gutta percha, for the purpose 
of getting a letter of credit and to learn a figure which was in a letter of credit of the 
Socidte Generale of Brussels. I got the letter from Mr. Coswell and collected in 
Rotterdam i3,ooof., returning directly to London, where the balance of the letter of 
credit was drawn. My voyage in other respects was fruitless. I did not learn the 
figure, and abandoned the project. In my absence Becker and Engles had been 
working upon Italian bonds, at No. 7 Leamington Road. 

" Small certificates of Italian incomes were bought from Baronoff in Milan and 
Turin. They consisted of twenty-five bonds bearing an income of 5f. These Engles 
and Becker worked upon. They erased by instruments and acids the indication of 
their value and restored their original color. The process was only known to Becker. 
All I knew was the printed denomination. The figures were substituted by a woodcut 
made by Becker. In the second voyage there were thirty-five certificates of income of 
the value of 50of. each, paying five per cent. They were taken to Engles and Becker, 
who made the alterations advancing their value to 30,ooof. income, or equal to a 
capital of 6oo,ooof. Several of these certificates were of 50of. income. The first lot 
used by Baronoff was for i,ooof. income. He disposed of them with the Credit 
Lyonnais and with the Caisse Generale of Paris. They were the certificates tied up 
under the name of H. G. or G. H. Hendel, who received seventy-five per cent, by 
advancement. Another lot was disposed of in the same way to' the Parisian Bank, the 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. ' 305 

interest collected amounting to io,ooof. A third lot of ii,ooof. income was sold at the 
principal office of the Societe Generale at the Stock Exchange and at the Credit 
Lyonnais. ^ 

" Those who took part in that line of work were Peter Burns, alias Colbert, John 
Carr, James Pasvell, George Engles, alias Hilgor, Charles Becker and myself. Charles 
Baronoff received twenty-five per cent, and the rest of the money, 400,ooof., was divided 
among ourselves in equal shares. Hendel, or Baronoff, ordered the sale of the bonds. 
He sent a man called ' Cranky Jimmy,' with a check to the Societe Generale. 

"He obtained 4,ooof. by means of a hotel messenger, and upon discovering that 
there was no trouble to dispose of the certificates he went himself and presented a 
check for more than 4o,ooof. He had to wait a long time, and, getting scared, ran 
away from the bank. 

" Some time afterward he wrote a letter to the Soci^t^ G^n^rale or the Credit 
Lyonnais, either from Belgium or Holland, saying he had sent his clerk to Paris with a 
check for the purpose of paying notes, and that he had not received any news either 
from the clerk or of the check, and that he would go himself to Paris as soon as possible 
to find out what had become of them. This was to explain his hasty departure from 
the bank after presenting the check for 40,ooof. Baronoff lived in Paris, Boulevard 
Malesherbes, under the name of Hendel. 

" My first introduction to that gang traveling in Italy was on the occasion of the 
sending out of the letters of credit of the Soci(Jt6 Generale of Brussels. ' Al ' Wilson 
was introduced to me by John Phillips. The men who operated extensively in Italy 
were Phillips, Wilson and Shell Hamilton. 

" They started by Geneva, Switzerland, where they were rejoined by Charles Silvio 
Bixio, who had been living in that city during the summer. They went to Torino, 
where they separated, Bixio and Hamilton going together to Naples, and Phillips, 
Wilson and myself going to Venice, where they were to wait for a telegram before 
beginning operations. 

" An attempt was made in Moscow, Russia, by Baronoff and James Pasvell, but the 
job failed for the reason that the figure and the key kept by the bankers there did not 
correspond with the forged notes. Learning this I telegraphed for them to come 
home. This took place when we were working on the Italian certificates of income, 
altering and filling letters of credit, which were accompanied by forged French pass- 
ports. All this work was done by Engles and Becker. 

" After his return from Italy I was informed that Bixio had the means of disposing 
of all sorts of forged paper. I sent Hamilton and Wilson, whose alias was ' Lewis,' to 
Geneva to meet him. They had $3,000 in counterfeit bank-notes on the Tradesmen's 
and Broadway Banks of New York. The counterfeit money was obtained by Hamilton 
from a man named Megath. I advanced the money to buy it. They also took a three 
per cent. French certificate of income (forged), which was not sold on account of some 
misunderstanding about the price. They came back to London, remaining several 
weeks, and then took again $2,500 in greenbacks, six or seven three per cent. French 
certificates of income and $200 in bonds of the Bank of Canada. 

" The latter bonds were stolen in Canada about four years before. One bond of 



3o6 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Lombardy came from a robbery on the Calais and Dover steamboat. It was of the 
value of loof. With these valuables, assisted by a certain Strogella, of Torino, Bixio 
sold the American bank-aotes, and Wilson, alias Lewis, sold the certificates for $i,ooo 
in all. They also disposed of the bond of Lombardy in Torino and operated in Geneva 
and Switzerland. 

"They borrowed from different Jews, with the aid of a man now in prison with 
Bixio, some French three per cent, income certificates of the denomination of 30of. 
The person mentioned as the owner of the bonds was a certain Count Corradino, a 
notorious thief, well known, who was supposed to live in Torino. He was called count 
by both Strogella and Bixio. They sold two other forged three per cent. French cer- 
tificates of income in two different places. These certificates were some of those that 

Picou and Baron sent back from Naples that had remained in Burns' hands. 

Hamilton made a trip to London, and after his arrival there Bixio telegraphed for more 
French certificates, and they were sent to him by registered letter. Wilson, alias Lewis, 
also went back, but kept up a constant correspondence with Strogella, of Torino. 
Hamilton and Wilson desired very much to have more bonds, either stolen or forged, 
of the five per cent. Italian income. 

" We set out together, and during the crossing of the sea Burns persuaded me to 
accompany him in a voyage after we should end our business. We were to go to 
Naples, Rome, Livorno and back to Paris by way of Nizza. Upon our arrival in 
Torino we met Hamilton, who took us to a caf^ and there told us that he had sold the 
bonds of Lombardy and the goof, of Italian income, with the aid of Strogella, to the 
latter's brother-in-law, who was a broker in Torino. We then gave him more French 
and Italian certificates of income. Hamilton said that he could not dispose of the 
French or Russian bonds, but said that the Italian bonds were all right. He brought 
us next day the money for the i,ooof. Italian certificate and gave us 25,ooof. for the 
bonds sold in Torino. 

"We then combined to go to Milan with Strogella and Wilson, alias Lewis, carry- 
ing with us two French certificates of 30of. each, and two forged Italian certificates of 
income of i,ooof. and 50of. each, which had been examined and approved by Strogella 
and Wilson, alias Lewis. They set out for Milan and were there arrested. We 
decided not to see any one in Torino except Hamilton. 

" Burns and I did not know Strogella. We went to Florence, stopping at the 
Hotel di Nuova York. Our plan was to meet Hamilton only. I was to prepare him 
a letter of credit, and Lewis or Wilson was to come with us, and we would decide where 
it would be best to try it. The scheme was frustrated by our arrest — that is Burns, 
alias Julius, and his wife and I and my wife — at Florence. 

" I forgot to say that Baronoff was accompanied in his first and second voyages by 
Carr and ' Pasvell, but in the third only Carr was with him. They introduced them- 
selves to the Soci^t6 G^n^rale, Credit Lyonnais and Banque Parisienne, and sold them 
different certificates which they bought from other bankers. Megotti, or Meo-ath, sold 
me the seventeen bonds of Lombardy, Italian and French certificates of income, the 
Russian bonds and a bond of the Credit Foncier of France, knowing that it was all 
stolen property. All the certificates were sold by Strogella to his brother-in-law. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 307 

Strogella gave the money to Hamilton and the latter gave it to me. The entire 
quantity of bonds were bought at forty-five or fifty per cent, of their real value, and 
virere sold by Strogella for their real value. 

" The amount of these sales was equally divided among Strogella, Lewis, Ham- 
ilton, Burns and myself. James Coswell was introduced to me by James Pasvell, and 
was deceived by me by telling him that I could buy remnants of gutta percha on the 
Continent— that is, in Brussells, Colmar, Aix-la-Chapelle and Rotterdam. We made 
two voyages to Brussels, and there he obtained for me two letters of credit on the 
Socidt^ G^n^rale by means of introductions from his correspondents in London. These 
letters were for 20,ooof. and 2 5,ooof." 

Wilkes' confession is the most interesting criminal document in existence to-day. 
It details nearly all his plots and schemes, and tells just how the men under him 
succeeded in duping the best financiers of Europe and America, and also gives the 
names of the men who took part in the several conspiracies with him. 

Joe Chapman, one of Wilkes' early companions, is at present in prison in Munich. 

Ivan, or Carlo, Siscovitch is serving out a term of imprisonment, under the alias 
of John Smith, in the penitentiary at Cleveland, Ohio. 

Phil Hargraves, who still lingers about New York City, has been more fortunate 
than others of the gang. This is due to the fact that he is a very guarded operator. 

William Griffis, alias "Lord Ashburton," was released in the spring of 1884, 
after serving out a term at the prison of San Quentin, Cal., and on his return to New 
York was arrested for the Kirkpatrick affair. He pleaded guilty, and as he was quite 
low in health he was released and allowed to go to his home at Dartmouth, Devon- 
shire, England, to die. 

Engles is dead. 

Becker is now serving a sentence of six years and six months in the Kings County 
Penitentiary, Brooklyn, N. Y., for counterfeiting a 1,000-franc note of the Bank of 
France. (See record of No. 18.) 

John Carr is a notorious English criminal. After the robbery of the Northampton, 
Mass., Bank, the proceeds were taken to England, and remained in Carr's house until 
the "negotiations were completed for their return. 

Bell is at present serving out a ten years' sentence in Maryland for forgery. 
(See record of No. 193.) 

Al. Wilson finished a term in Baltimore, Md., for forgery, and is now serving a 
twelve years' sentence in Canada. (See record of No. 37.) 



308 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Cleary, who was also implicated with Bell and Wilson in the Baltimore forgeries^ 
has just completed a five years' sentence there. (See record of No. 193.) 

Elliott is serving an eighteen-year sentence at Rochester, N. Y. (See record of 
No. 16.) 

Steve Raymond, another associate of Wilkes, is serving out a life imprisonment 
for forgery, the first and only man ever sentenced under the new law. (See record 
of No. 55.) 

For further particulars of George Wilkes see records of Nos. 18 and 26. 



OTHER NOTED CRIMINALS. 



Dan Noble, alias Dan Dyson, bond forger, bank burglar and sneak. 

This celebrated criminal is now (1886) serving out a twenty years' sentence in the 
Millbank prison, London, England. For years previous to Noble's departure for 
England and the Continent, he was an acknowledged leader of the most notable crooked 
operators in America. He was the master spirit in the Lord bond robbery in New York 
City in March, 1886, which netted him and his companions, Fred Knapp, James Grii^n, 
and Little Pettingill, nearly $1,700,000. Subsequently (in the spring of 1871) he was 
sent to Auburn (N. Y.) State prison from Oswego, N. Y., for five years for a burglary. 
He remained there but a short time, securing his liberty by escaping with two other 
notorious bank robbers, Jimmy Hope (20) and Big Jim Brady. After remaining in 
hiding in New York a short time, he started for the old country, arriving in England in 
1873. Here he fell in with the big swells in sporting and crooked circles, and, as in 
America, soon went to the front, on account of his ability to concoct and successfully 
carry out his schemes. He began his operations with three smart men, Johnny Miller,, 
formerly of New York, Joe Chapman and Jack Phillips. They got rid of a large 
amount of spurious ^5 notes in Bavaria, Brussels and Switzerland, several of which 
were found upon emigrants after landing in this country. He was sentenced to five 
years in Paris, France, for a diamond robbery, but escaped shortly after. The crime 
for which he was sent to prison in London was forgery, his associates being two noted 
English thieves named Wardley and Garnett, and an American named Charles Lister, 
who assumed the alias of Edward Hunt. Lister was sentenced to fifteen years' impris- 
onment, and afterwards gave information to the authorities about Johnny Miller, 
who was also arrested and sentenced to twenty years. Dan Noble fied to Italy, but 
was captured and returned, and although Miller swore that Noble was innocent, it was 
not believed, and Noble was sentenced to twenty years also. They all went to prison 
together. This will probably wind up Noble's criminal career. 

He was known in Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Munich, Bavaria and London as well as. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 309 

in America. Is fifty-two years old in 1886. Born in United States. Married. No 
trade. Height, 6 feet; weight, 185 pounds. Fair complexion; light hair, inclined to 
be red ; bluish grey eyes, long slim nose. Used to wear an exceedingly long goatee ; 
now wears a long mustache. He is a fine-looking, big, jolly and well-built man. He 
has a deep scar on his nose caused by a cut from a bottle. Walks straight and erect, 
■dresses well, and is an interesting talker. His description was taken during his trial in 
London, and is a good one. 

Noble, Knapp and Griffin were credited with robbing Leonard W. Jerome, in New 
York City, on February 6, 1867, of about $100,000 ; also Bliss & Co., of Pine Street, New 
York. This last robbery was the cause of one of the firm becoming a raving maniac. 
The thieves, however, never realized one dollar from the latter robbery, as the bonds 
that were stolen were given by them to Phil. Furlong and Ned Lyons (70) to dispose 
■of. These worthies never gave an accounting to the thieves, but divided among them- 
selves what was realized on them. 

Knapp is a horse sharp. Griffin and Phil. Furlong are dead, and Ned Lyons is 
serving out a sentence in Connecticut. (See record of No. 70.) 

For further particulars of Dan Noble, see records of Nos. 4, 14, 20, 202. 

Samuel T. Perry, alias " Bottle Sam," the bank sneak, was convicted and 
■sentenced in Detroit, Mich., on October 31, 1882, to five years' imprisonment at 
Jackson, Mich., for robbing the office of the County Treasurer in 1870. 

Perry is the son of very respectable parents, and was raised in the vicinity of New 
York, but went to Cincinnati when he was quite young, where he has a sister married 
to a very respectable gentleman. His first connection with thieves was brought about 
by Johnny Green, a well known sneak thief, of St. Louis. Perry was caught tapping 
a till in St. Louis in 1868, and sentenced to the penitentiary for two years. Green 
succeeded in making his escape with the money. On coming out he returned to 
New York, where he associated with George Carson, Horace Hovan, alias Little 
Horace, and Red Tim, well known bank sneak thieves. Through his association 
with these men he became acquainted with Andy Roberts and Valentine Gleason, 
the forgers, and was selected by them to aid Walter Sheridan in the disposition 
of the forged Buffalo, New York and Erie railroad bonds. In this connection he went 
with Sheridan to England. Shortly after that detectives went there in pursuit of Joe 
Chapman and Joe Riley, alias Joe Elliott, in connection with the robbery of the Third 
National Bank of Baltimore, and while tracing them about London, they came across 
Perry, who was keeping company with them. Through watching Perry they were 
brought into contact with Walter Sheridan, Ike Marsh, Charley Bullard, alias Piano 
Charley, and Tom Worth, the Boylston (Boston) Bank robbers. By keeping run of 
them, the detectives and the London police were also brought in contact with Mark 
Shinburn, George Wade Wilkes, George McDonald and the two Bidwells, and 
numerous other American burglars, sneak thieves and forgers then residing in London. 
All of these men were thoroughly exposed, and it was through this exposure that 
the London police succeeded in implicating the two Bidwells and McDonald in the 
great frauds and forgeries on the Bank of England. 



3IO PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

In the spring of 1873 Walter Sheridan and Sam Perry (Walter Sheridan under the 
name of C. Raulston and Sam Perry under the name of William B. Morgan) returned 
to New York on the steamer Adriatic. On account of Perry's dissipated habits Sheridan 
separated from him and left Perry none of the money. Sheridan had disposed of 
$150,000 worth of the Buffalo, New York and Erie bonds without leave of Perry. Perry 
acquired the habit of excessive wine drinking, and became familiarly known by the name 
of " Bottle Sam." In one of his drunken bouts he shot Charles H. Dorauss, alias Jack 
Strauss, the well known burglar, in New York, and was sentenced to State prison for 
five years on March 11, 1879, but through the influence of his mother obtained a new 
trial, and did not serve his sentence. After lying around New York and Philadelphia 
for a couple of years he again went West, and stopped in Chicago with a mob of 
Eastern thieves. In Chicago he committed several small sneak robberies, and from 
there went to Detroit, where he was concerned in the robbery of the County Treas- 
urer's office. Perry was arrested the day after the robbery at Windsor, Canada, but 
succeeded in obtaining his discharge, as the offense against him did not come under the 
treaty. But he was readily identified as the man who " stalled " the County Treasurer 
to the rear of the office while the sneak went through the safe. After being liberated 
he went to Fort Erie, Canada, where he met John, alias "Clutch," Donahue, a well 
known American thief, who then resided in Canada, and operated with him and Joe 
Dubuque and Little Joe Harris through the Dominion. Coming to Port Huron, Mich., 
he was recognized by a Detroit officer, and arrested and taken back to Detroit, tried, 
and convicted. Perry has been one of the most remarkable thieves in the United 
States, and had he let liquor alone, was one of the most dangerous men in the country 
to meet. Dissipation has been his ruin, for in his time he has been associated more or 
less with the ablest thieves in the country. 

Perry is forty years old in 1886. Height, 5 feet 11 inches; weight, about 150 
pounds. Black hair, hazel eyes, nose full in the centre, dark complexion, and generally 
wears black side-whiskers and mustache. 

Joseph Killoran, alias Joe Howard, was arrested in Philadelphia Sunday, Feb- 
ruary 8, 1885, for the robbery of the First National Bank at Coldwater, Mich., of 
$10,000 on August I, 1883, thus closing for a number of years to come the career of a 
man who, as a pickpocket, bank sneak thief and bank safe burglar, has operated success- 
fully in one of these three lines of thieving with nearly all of the great professional 
criminals. Joseph Killoran is a New Yorker by birth, and comes from a good family. 
At the time of his parents' death, Joe, with his other brothers and sisters, inherited 
considerable property, but his share was spent in gambling and riotous living. Through 
gambling he became acquainted with professional thieves, and when his money was 
gone he joined a party of pickpockets. He was afterwards associated with George 
Bliss, alias Miles, alias White, the noted bank burglar, now serving sentence at Windsor, 
Vt., who was the partner of Mark Shinburn, probably the most expert bank safe 
burglar in the country. Joe was finally convicted for the robbery of the Waterford, 
N. Y., bank, and was sentenced to Auburn prison. He escaped, in company with 
Jimmy Hope, who was concerned in the Manhattan Bank robbery, and was next arrested 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 31 1 

in New York with George Miles, alias Bliss, for the Barre bank burglary of Vermont, 
The Auburn prison authorities, being informed of his arrest, claimed him as a prisoner 
who had escaped from them, and he was taken back to Auburn to serve out his term of 
imprisonment, which expired about three years since.^ Miles was taken to Vermont and 
sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment, where he now is. 

Joe Howard was concerned with Jimmy Hope, Worcester Sam, George Bliss and 
others in the robbery of the Beneficial Savings Fund, and the Kensington Bank 
burglary at Philadelphia, which occurred on April 6, 1869, and which attracted wide 
attention because of its magnitude. He was also concerned with Jimmy Hope, George 
Mason, Ike Marsh, alias " Big Ike," Tom Curley and Mike Welsh, in the successful 
robbery of the First National Bank at Wellsboro, Pa., on September 17, 1874. Here 
the family were bound and gagged, and the cashier made to open his own safe, while 
the contents were taken out. Marsh, Welsh, Curley and Mason were arrested, while 
the others made their escape. Marsh was sentenced to seventeen years in the Penn- 
sylvania State prison, where he now is. The jury acquitted Welsh and disagreed as to 
Mason and Curley. With Jimmy Hope and two others he was concerned in the 
attempted robbery of the First National Bank at Wilmington, Del., November 7, 1873. 
Four of the party, including Hope and Howard, were arrested and sentenced to ten 
years' imprisonment each, and were ordered to receive fifty lashes. The sentence was 
executed, but after a few years' imprisonment all succeeded in making their escape. 

Howard has also worked with Scott and Dunlap, of the Northampton (Mass.) 
bank robbery ; also with Sam Perris, alias Worcester Sam, Thomas McCormick, Johnny 
Love, and in fact with all the leading professional bank burglars in the country. He 
has always made New York his home. Since coming out after serving his last impris- 
onment, he quit burglary and set to working almost entirely with bank sneak thieves. 
He was with Western sneak thieves when he perpetrated the robbery for which he is 
now serving time. Three parties entered the First National Bank at Coldwater, Mich., 
about noon, August i, 1883. Howard engaged the attention of the cashier, while a 
second party engaged the paying teller. Then Ed. Quinn, the noted professional thief 
of Chicago, entered the bank, sneaked along the counter, and succeeded in getting into 
the vault without being observed. He took $10,000 worth of bonds, when, through 
some act of carelessness on his part, he attracted the attention of the cashier, who, on 
discovering Quinn in the vault, rushed in to seize him. He was warned off by Quinn, 
who pulled out a large pistol and threatened to kill the cashier in case he attempted to 
detain him. In this way he backed out of the bank, where a wagon was in waiting for 
the whole party. In this they were driven rapidly away. Quinn was arrested about a 
year ago in Chicago, but was taken to Laporte, Ind., instead of Coldwater, where he 
was wanted for a jewelry robbery, and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. He 
is now in prison. The other men who committed this robbery, with Howard, have been 
successful in keeping out of the way. 

Killoran pleaded guilty to having assisted in the robbery of $10,000 from the First 
National Bank of Coldwater, Mich., as above described, and was sentenced to five years 
in the Michigan State prison on July 26, 1885, at Coldwater, Mich. 

For expiration of sentence see commutation laws of Michigan. 



312 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

William E. Gray was the son of a gentleman who for many years was Chaplain 
of the United States Senate. This honorable position held by the father gained for 
the son an entrde to the best circles of society, but which he sadly abused by his mis- 
conduct. He was extradited from England in July, 1878, for forging certificates to the 
amount of $30,000, issued by the State of New York for the payment of bounties of 
volunteers during the late war. Gray was tried and convicted, and sentenced to ten 
years in Sing Sing on May 29, 1879. During the trial his counsel took a great many 
exceptions, and carried the case to the Court of Appeals, which took some years, during 
which time he was locked up in the Tombs. He was finally set free in May, 1881, and 
is now living In this city. (See records of No. 202 and George Wilkes.) 

The following very interesting account of Gray was published in one of the New 
York papers in May, 1880: 

" Gray is a young man of pleasant address and agreeable manners, and while 
operating in Wall Street many years ago, was regarded as a shrewd speculator and an 
intelligent observer of financial events. Born of respectable parents, well educated, and 
given a good start in life, he chose a career of crime in preference to respectability with 
a more gradual fortune. His father. Rev. E. H. Gray, of Shelburne Falls, Mass., was 
Chaplain of the United States Senate from 1861 to 1869. After leaving college 
William E. Gray was appointed to a clerkship in the Fourth Auditor's office of the 
United States Treasury Department, and served with credit and fidelity until 1866, 
when he resigned. The following year he came to New York, bringing letters of 
recommendation from Gen. Butler, Senator Morrill, Acting Vice-President Foster, 
National Bank Examiner Callander, Senators Pomeroy and Fessenden and others, 
upon whom he always called when they visited this city. He was then twenty-three 
years of age, and extremely youthful In appearance. He was abstemious in his habits, 
refraining from liquors and tobacco, which gained for him the reputation of a model 
young man. 

" His first employment In this city was as clerk for A. W. Dimock & Co., of No. 26 
Pine Street, to whom he represented that he desired to learn the secrets of stock 
brokerage so as to enter the street on his account. In May, 1869, he left Dimock & 
Co., and began business on his own account in a small way at the office of Mr. J. G. 
Sands, No. 36 New Street. Among others, Mr. J. G. Eastman gave him power of 
attorney to act In the Gold Room, and the young Washingtonian was launched on the 
rough sea of Wall Street speculation under the most favorable auspices. It was here, 
as far as can be learned, that Gray began the sharp practices which subsequently made 
him a fugitive from justice, dodging the officers of the law, and finally landed him in the 
Tombs, awaiting a decision that may consign him to State prison for a long term of 
years. His first act was to borrow $1,600 on three Government bonds from George 
H. Lewis, who in turn re-hypothecated them to L. W. Morse for $3,000. Something 
he had learned awakened Mr. Morse's suspicions, and he called in the loan. Neither 
Lewis nor Gray responded, and the securities were sold at a loss to Mr. Morse. The 
purchaser afterwards discovered that the bonds had been stolen from the Common 
Prayer-Book Society of New York several months previously. Gray refused to make 
good Mr. Morse's loss, and he was arrested and thrown into Ludlow Street jail. His 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 313 

father intervened, paid the money, and young Gray was released. He next victimized 
William H. Chapman, a South Street merchant, and kept up a system of 'kiting' on 
Mr. Eastman's credit, but his little game was discovered in time to prevent any serious 
losses. 

"In the autumn of the same year. Gray gave out that he expected a legacy of 
$50,000 from a wealthy aunt, who had accommodatingly died, which, with $10,000 
ready cash which he claimed to own, he proposed to enlarge his business operations. 
He purchased from G. H. Stebbins' Son the lease of the offices No. 44 Broad Street, 
which were afterward occupied by Victoria Woodhull and Tenny Claflin. He furnished 
the rooms in elaborate style, and over the door a sign was hung with the name of 
W. E. Gray & Co. Who the company was became a standing conundrum on the 
street, but it afterwards leaked out that it was composed of T. H. Pratt, William J. 
Sharkey, William S. Ree, George Larabee, and one or two others. All the firm after- 
wards came to grief. Sharkey is a refugee, having murdered Dunne ; Glover was 
convicted as an accomplice in the Boylston Bank robbery ; Leighton was arrested in 
California for being connected with a mining swindle, and Ree and Larrabee have been 
frequently before the public in connection with heavy forgeries. While operating in a 
pool on Quartz Hill mining stock. Gray and his associates came into possession of 
sixteen New York State Bounty Loan certificates of $1,000 each, which had been stolen 
a year previous from C. W. Woolsey, a Pine Street broker ; two similar bonds for 
$15,000 originally issued to Elizabeth F. Taylor, and other stolen Government and 
miscellaneous securities. The bounty loan certificates were raised by means of chem- 
icals from $1,000 to $10,000 each, and the registers were changed to W. E. Gray & Co. 
Pratt was supposed to have done the forging, and that Gray aided in floating the bonds. 
This worked so well that the system was kept up for a long time. In December, 1879, 
the forgeries were discovered, and Gray was sharply catechised by bank officers and 
detectives. Gathering together all his available funds, some $50,000, he left his office 
in a carriage, in company with a veiled woman, and disappeared from view, and for two 
years all trace of him was lost. His total debts were $310,000, and the assets he left 
behind consisted of $20,000, leaving him a net profit of $280,000. 

" After Gray's departure a letter was found in his office addressed to a female clerk 
in the Treasury Department, whom he designated as ' Dear Birdie.' He told her that 
he had insured his life for $5,000 in her favor. The Mining Board expelled Gray, and 
the Stock Exchange gave Detective Tom Sampson instructions to find where he was 
and to follow him up and arrest him. Sampson, after following numerous clues, 
learned that Gray was luxuriating in London under the name of James Peabody 
Morgan, a pretended nephew of George Peabody, the great philanthropist. Being 
introduced one day to a genuine relative of Mr. Peabody, and being sharply cornered, 
he laughed the matter off as a joke, and was afterwards known as James Payson Morgan. 
He dressed like a noble, courted the society of snobs, and rejoiced in the ownership of 
a finer tandem team than the Prince of Wales drove. At a dinner given by the niece 
of Baron Rothschild, when only twenty-eight years of age, he made an after-dinner 
speech on finances which astonished all his hearers. He became acquainted with Mr. 
Chatteris, a London banker, and he placed his son in business with Gray, handing him 



314 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

^10,000, and accepting as security $50,000 in spurious United States bonds. The 
venture was not a success, but Gray secured ;^5,ooo more from old Mr. Chatteris by 
showing him an order, believed to have been forged, stating that $30,000 had been 
placed to his credit in New York. Young Chatteris quarreled with Gray, and 
accused him of swindling, when he drew a pistol and was arrested. The bonds deposited 
with Mr. Chatteris turned out to be stolen and caveated bonds, and Detective Sampson 
immediately, on learning the facts, had Gray indicted, and, having secured extradition 
papers, sailed for London on November 18, 1871. Gray, alias Morgan, cunningly 
made his escape and crossed over to Paris. Captain Sampson chased him all over the 
Continent, and, failing to catch him, returned to New York. 

" Gray next turned up on the Hague as Dr. Georgius Colletso, oculist, and graduate 
of the Royal College of Surgeons of London, and possessor of diplomas which were 
never legally issued. Here he attempted to sell to the wealthy capitalists of the Hague 
a mythical silver mine in Colorado. Gray next appeared in Texas under the name of 
Colletso, where he inaugurated the Bastrop Coal Mining Company — another mythical 
concern. Here he formed an alliance with Colonel William Fitzcharles McCarty, and 
together they returned to England and flooded the market with the stock of the 
Wichita Copper Company, limited. They raised $20,000 to start the thing, and would 
have secured more had not the Englishmen learned that the entire thing was an arrant 
swindle. This led to his identity, and again Captain Sampson started out after him. 
Upon his arrival he found Gray in custody, and apparently anxious to return to America. 
Again the persevering veteran detective was doomed to disappointment. Secretary 
Fish declined to give a promise that Gray should not be tried on any other charge than 
was contained in the extradition papers, and he was released by the British authorities. 
This position was subsequently receded from, and George B. Mickle, a son of ex-Mayor 
Mickle, meeting Gray in Edinburgh, gave Captain Sampson information, and Gray was 
arrested in London. Captain Sampson was again deputized by the Stock Exchange to 
go after the long absent prisoner, but being detained here on important Government 
business, the late Captain Kealy was selected in his stead. Gray was brought back, 
followed by a niece of Balfe, the great composer, who is his wife. She still resides in 
this city. As a matter of historic equity, it may be mentioned that Seth Johnson, who 
was Gray's most intimate friend when in the Treasury Department, was convicted in 
1872 of embezzling $50,000." 

Mary A. Hansen, alias Klink, has many wiles in working sharp men for money 
and her husband helps in her crooked schemes. 

On January 15, 1886, Frederick Bohmet, of No. 192 Allen Street, called at Police 
Headquarters in New York, and informed the authorities that in September, 1885, Julius 
Klink, a shoemaker, whom he had known for twenty years, called on him and said a 
wealthy widow named Hansen, on Jersey City Heights, had got infatuated with him 
and he married her ; that he was well fixed and would never work another day at the 
bench. He said she was left by her uncle, who died at Harrisburg, Pa., $750,000, and 
the money was on deposit in the United States Treasury, and would be paid in a few 
days, as the Supreme Court had decided the case in her favor, and they would be 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 315 

obliged to pay the money on July 15, 1886. They had a number of lawyers employed, 
he said, and they wished to get her money at once. While this conversation was going 
on Mrs. Klink ran into the house with a telegram, shouting and crying, " You are a 
nice man. Why didn't you assist me to get our money ? The telegram says if we 
don't have money and get the Supreme Court seal on our papers we are gone. We 
will not be able to get our money until July, 1886, and we must have money at once. I 
must have money too to run on to Washington at once." 

Mr. Klink then asked Mr. Bohmet if he would advance the money needed. Mr. 
Bohmet asked what security he should receive. Mr. and Mrs. Klink said they would 
give him his money back in a few days, and also as a present a four-story tenement 
house and lot. Mr. Bohmet went to the bank and gave them $2,316, which money he 
was to receive on July 15, 1886, also his house and lot. On January 2, Mr. Bohmet 
called on his lawyer and explained his case to him. He advised him to call on the 
police, which he did on January 18. While the sergeant was in conversation with Mr. 
Bohmet a lady named Mary Mesam, of No. i First Avenue, called and informed the 
sergeant that she was robbed by a woman named Hansen, of $2,500. A detective 
listened to her story and saw by the description that Klink and Hansen was the same 
woman. Two detective sergeants were detailed on the case, and ordered to bring both 
complainants before Justice Duffy at Jefferson Market and obtain a warrant, if possible, 
as the woman resided in Jersey. Justice Duffy issued a warrant for Mr. and Mrs. 
Klink. Two officers went to No. 72 Hague Street, Jersey City Heights, accompanied 
by Inspector Lang and Detective Dalton, of Jersey City. As they attempted to enter 
the house Mrs. Klink's daughter met the officers on the stoop and informed them that 
her mother was not at home. The officers remained watching the house until evening, 
when they entered and searched, and found the object of their search on the second 
floor pretending to be sick. She came to New York and was locked up at the Central 
Office on January 22, 1886. She was taken before Justice Duffy and held under $8,000 
bail. 

On January 29, Lawyer James D. McClelland served a writ of habeas corpus on 
the police authorities, returnable before Judge Van Brunt at the Supreme Court 
Chambers, and she was discharged on the ground that the money was loaned, and the 
complainants did not show by witnesses from Philadelphia, Harrisburg or Washington 
that her representations were false. After she left the court room the detectives 
arrested her again, and she was taken before Justice Duffy on complaint of Richard C. 
Perry, of No. 370 Broadway, who charged her with obtaining $300 by representing 
that the Sheriff of Philadelphia held $11,000 of her money, and she wished to go on 
to Philadelphia at once and obtain her money. She was held in $4,000 on this charge. 
She was also charged with obtaining $500 from Annie Mesam of No. i First Avenue, 
New York City, by representing that she owned a number of houses in Philadelphia, 
and that Mr. Friedenburg, of No. 908 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, held all her deeds 
in his safe and had advanced her $700. A detective went to Philadelphia and found 
her story was false ; that she never had any deeds with the above named firms, and 
they did not know any woman named Mary A. Klink, Mary A. Hansen or Mary A. 
Gibson, and she was a fraud. She represented to Miss Mesam that her husband, 



3i6 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

Julius Klink, was left $490,000 at Harrisburg, and it was in the hands of the Sherifif at 
Philadelphia, and she expected her money every day, but she had just received a tele- 
gram to come on at once and obtain her money. If Miss Mesam was afraid to trust her 
husband she would pay herself, as Mr. Freidenberg, of Islo. 908 Chestnut Street, held 
all her deeds and diamonds in his safe. 

She began crying and shouting, clapping her hands and running around the saloon 
and saying that she was ruined if she did not get the money at once. Miss Mesam 
gave her $500 to go to Washington to get the money from the United States Treas- 
ury. The following are the parties who have been swindled by Mrs. Klink and her 
husband : Mary Mesam, No. i First Avenue, New York City, $2,000 ; Annie Mesam, 
No. I First Avenue, $500; Frederick Bohmet, No. 192 Allen Street, New York, 
$2,316; John Lodlobz, Philadelphia, $500; William Whiteman, $200; Mr. Trost gave 
on same representations his house and lot, valued at $2,800 ; Daniel Troft, No. 1309 
North Front Street, Philadelphia, $1,200 ; Jacob Trost, $2,900; Christopher Baure, 
No. 971 Randolph Street, Philadelphia, $900; Caroline Schamer, 23 West Thompson 
Street, $185 ; Leonard Friedwald, No. 229 East Thompson Street, $610; Fred Watters, 
$110; John F. Graff, No. 1337 Greene Street, Philadelphia, $525 ; J. L. Schwartz, $200; 
William Bauer, $90; Mr. Henning, No. 59 Warren Street, New York, $195 — and a 
number of others. 

Mrs. Klink, alias Hansen, alias Gibson, was arrested by Chief Murphy, of Jersey 
City, in 1876, for swindling a number of politicians in Jersey City, by representing 
that she was worth a half million dollars, which was held by Cardinal McCloskey. 
Cardinal McCloskey took the stand, and swore he never knew the woman or had any 
money in trust for her. 

In the latter part of 1879 Detectives Handy and Fogarty, of New York City, 
arrested her for obtaining goods from about twenty different firms in the wool business. 
Among the victims were Bernstrein & Co., Canal Street ; Franklin & Co., Howard 
Street, New York. She received about $12,000 at this time. 

The Jersey City Rogues' Gallery description of the woman is as follows : 
"No. 143. Mary Klink, alias Mary A. Hansen, alias Gibson, aged 48, hair brown 
and gray, eyes hazel, weight about 190 pounds, height 5 feet i in., German, but speaks 
good English." 

Mrs. Hansen was committed to Ludlow Street Jail on a judgment obtained in the 
civil case by Mrs. Mesam. The complaint in this case was withdrawn, and Mrs. Hansen 
was discharged from the jail on August 30, 1886. She was re-arrested on a warrant 
issued by a Philadelphia magistrate, charged with swindling a party in that city some 
years previous. The Grand Jury refused to indict her in this case, as her husband had 
already served five years in prison for it. She was discharged in New York City on 
September 10, 1886, and is now at large. 

Ellen E. Peck eight years ago suddenly developed into a dangerous confidence 
woman. Prior to that she was but an ordinary sharper, and her small exploits were 
scarcely worthy of notice. When, in 1878, she succeeded in swindling B. T. Babbitt, 
the soap manufacturer, out of $19,000, she came to be looked upon as an operator of 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 3 I 7 

some talent. Mr. Babbitt had been robbed a short time before of over half a million 
dollars. When the dishonest employes had been arrested, Mrs. Peck visited the soap 
manufacturer in the role of a female detective. She then represented that she was in 
the possession of valuable information concerning property owned by the clerks which 
could easily be sued for or seized. Mr. Babbitt was so taken in by his visitor that he 
advanced the amount demanded, and afterwards discovered that Mrs. Peck's information 
was false and worthless. Next she swindled Samuel Pingee, a patent medicine man, 
out of $2,700. She pretended to the latter that she had a friend in the office of Jay 
Gould, who gave her all the points about financial affairs. The medicine maker was 
anxious to secure information concerning stocks from Mr. Gould's office, and willingly 
gave Mrs. Peck the money for "points." Pingee's investments which followed the 
"tips" were not as fruitful as he had expected. When it was too late he discovered 
that Jay Gould had been selling the very stocks he had been buying, and that they 
were on the eve of going down. Later on she secured a large loan from the notorious 
John D. Grady, the crooked diamond dealer, who was known for years as "Supers and 
Slangs." Grady, although himself an unusually shrewd sharper, was so completely 
taken in by Mrs. Peck that he readily handed her over the cash in lieu of a rent receipt 
for a compartment in a safe deposit vaults where the imaginary diamonds she was 
borrowing on were supposed to be. The compartment, of course, was empty, and on a 
small investment the cunning confidence woman realized many thousand dollars. In 
after years, when Mrs. Peck rose to the front rank among confidence women, she 
delighted in outwitting professional criminals, and invariably succeeded in her tricks. 
She roped the notorious Julius Columbani into a transaction over bonds stolen from 
the residence of the McSorleys, on Staten Island. Mrs. Peck furnished the evidence 
which led to the recovery of the plunder and the conviction of Columbani. The whole 
of her exploits, if written, would fill many pages of this book. 

Mrs. Peck was indicted for the Babbitt affair, but every time the case came up for 
trial she was taken very sick, until told that the next time the trial came up she must 
appear or forfeit her bail. Then she suddenly became insane, and was sent to an 
asylum in Pennsylvania. Her counsel soon got the complainants to agree to sue her in 
a civil court, which suit was to take precedence over the criminal charge, and Mrs. 
Peck's wits, when all was arranged, returned to her and she came back to New York. 

The confidence woman was tried and acquitted in the Kings County Court of 
Sessions, July 18, 1879, o'^ ^'^ indictment charging her with obtaining several thousand 
dollars' worth of diamonds and jewelry, under false pretenses, from Loyance Langer, of 
this city, and was arraigned four days later in the same court upon the remaining 
indictments pending against her in the same case. The Assistant District Attorney 
moved that a nolle prosequi be entered, as the trial had failed to convict her. Judge 
Moore granted the motion, permitting her to go upon her own recognizance, and 
remarking at the same time that it was but fair to say that there was an officer in 
waiting to take Mrs. Peck to New York, where it was understood an indictment had 
been found against her. 

Mrs. Peck was again arrested at her home. No. 307 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, on 
September 16, 1881. She was then accused of having defrauded John H. Johnson, a 



3l8 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

jeweler, of No. 150 Bowery, New York, of jewelry to the amount of $150. The com- 
plainant alleged that when Mrs. Peck selected the jewelry she paid down $25, and 
represented herself as Mrs. Eliza Knight, giving as a reference a bank in New York, 
On making inquiries at the bank Mr. Johnson was told that Mrs. Knight had an 
account there, and he therefore let her have the articles ; but subsequently he discovered 
that the Mrs. Knight who had the credit at the bank was an entirely different person 
from the purchaser of the jewelry. 

On March 4, 1884, Mrs. Peck obtained an introduction under the name of Mrs. 
Knight to John Bough, a diamond dealer of No. 22 Liberty Street, New York. She 
represented herself to be a speculator in precious stones. In the early part of April she 
called on Mr. Bough and told him she had an order to purchase a diamond cluster ring 
for a lady friend. She selected a ring valued at $75 and took it away, returning next 
day and paying for it. Mr. Bough offered her a commission, which she refused, saying 
that the transaction was only a trifling one, and that she would soon bring him an 
important order. On April 28 she told Mr. Bough that the wife of a prominent Brook- 
lynite was going to dine with her that night, and she thought that she could sell her 
some diamonds. She selected a pair of solitaire earrings and two finger rings, valued 
at $400. 

After anxiously waiting the lady's return for several days, Mr. Bough called on the 
police to work up the case. After an infinite amount of trouble a detective found that 
the missing jewelry had been pledged at Simpson's, on the Bowery, New York, for $130, 
and that on the ist of August Mrs. Peck had called at Simpson's, presented the ticket 
and demanded the surrender of the property, alleging that the jewels had been stolen 
from her several months before, and that the ticket had just been returned to her by 
mail. Simpson refused to comply with her demand, and a replevin suit was instituted 
by Mrs. Peck's counsel, Champion Bissell, of No. 23 East Fourteenth Street, New 
York. Simpson got a writ of re-replevin, and the result was a civil suit tried before 
Judge Clancy on September 12, 1884. Decision was reserved. The day before the 
trial Mr. Bough called at Simpson's, where he fully identified the jewels by private 
marks. At the trial Mrs. Peck swore that the jewels had been bought by her last 
October from one George P. Thomas, of Brooklyn, for $130. Thomas corroborated 
Mrs. Peck's statement. He was arrested on September 28, 1884, for perjury, and when 
brought to Police Headquarters he made a full confession in writing. In it he said that 
he met Mrs. Peck about four years ago, and that on several occasions since then she 
has befriended him and loaned him various sums of money. Just before the trial he 
borrowed $20 from her. He felt himself placed under so great an obligation that when 
he was asked to " do a little swearing " for his benefactress he professed himself to be 
ready to make oath to anything. As a reward it was arranged that the $20 loan should 
be cancelled, and that he should receive a bonus of $50 in addition. 

In 1884 Richard W. Peck, the husband of the confidence woman, began a suit 
against Benjamin T. Babbitt to collect from the soap manufacturer $100,000 damages, 
alleging that he (Peck) had been seriously injured by the defendant's putting a lis 
pendens on his property in connection with proceedings against Mrs. Peck to recover 
some of the money out of which Babbitt charges that the woman defrauded him. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 319 

The Babbitt action was one of fifteen cases in which Mrs. Peck was prepared to act 
a prominent part. One of these, brought by her husband against Frederick W. Watkins 
and Daniel C. Mitchell, was to set aside a mortgage for $600 upon the furniture in the 
Peck residence. In this case the plaintiff alleged that on April 2, 1884, his wife 
obtained for the defendants in the suit the amount named upon a chattel mortgage 
upon property which belonged solely to him. Mrs. Peck always came to the assistance 
of her husband by swearing that the loan was made " on a corrupt and unlawful agree- 
ment, namely, that Watkins should receive $150 for a loan of $450 for thirty days." 

Mrs. Ellen E. Peck, on December 6, 1884, succeeded in having herself arrested 
again. A charge of larceny was made against her by Mrs. Ann McConnell, of No. 140 
West Forty-ninth Street, who advertised in the newspapers that she had money to loan 
on good security. On the 20th of September, 1884, she received a visit from a Mrs. 
Crosby, who said that she had seen the advertisement and wished to borrow $250. 
Mrs. McConnell was favorably impressed by the appearance of her visitor, who, in 
addition to her neat and quiet way of dressing and ladylike manner, told in the most 
plausible way how it happened that she was compelled to make the loan. 

" My second son," she said, " is about to engage in business, and the money is 
needed for that purpose. I own considerable household furniture at No. 307 Putnam 
Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y.; I do not owe $10 in the world, and I have a large income, 
which is paid semi-annually, in May and November." 

Mrs. McConnell gave her the $250, and executed a chattel mortgage on the fur- 
niture, Mrs. Crosby agreeing in thirty days' time to pay back the $250 and $75 besides 
as interest. Fifteen days passed and Mrs. McConnell read of the arrest of Mrs. Peck 
on the charges of perjury and swindling a jeweler, and of her incarceration in the 
Tombs. It struck her as a curious feature of the case that Mrs. Peck's residence was 
in Putnam Avenue. The suspicion that Mrs. Peck and Mrs. Crosby might be one and 
the same person flashed through her mind. She called at the Tombs and saw Mrs. 
Peck. To Mrs. McConnell's dismay it was no other than Mrs. Crosby. Mrs. 
McConnell went straightway from the prison to the Tombs Court and asked for a warrant 
for Mrs. Peck's arrest on a charge of larceny. Justice White advised her to wait until 
the thirty days agreed upon had expired. Mrs. McConnell did so. The payment was 
not forthcoming. Worse still, she found that there were half a dozen other mortgages 
on the same furniture. She again applied for the warrant, which Justice White issued. 
On it Mrs. Peck was arrested. 

Mrs. Peck did not look as jaunty as usual when she was arraigned before Justice 
Duffy in the Tombs Court. She wore a brown turban and a veil that covered half of 
her face. She had on a brown polonaise and a gray dress. Her counsel, Henry A. 
Meyenborg, of Brooklyn, accompanied her. He said that in spite of all the dubious 
transactions in which she had figured she had never in her life been convicted of any 
crime or misdemeanor. In this case, he said, she had an excellent defense. Mrs. Peck 
got $250 and agreed to pay it back with $75 interest in thirty days. She had not paid 
it. That was all there was to the case. It was a corrupt agreement and could not be 
constructed into a larceny. 

Mrs. Ellen E. Peck was again a prisoner at the Tombs Police Court on January 



^20 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

5, 1885. She was the defendant in twenty-eight civil and criminal cases, and three 
indictments that had been found against her were pending. 

The complainant in the last case was Champion Bissell, a lawyer, of No. 23 East 
Fourteenth Street, who was once her counsel. On September i, 1884, she obtained 
$500 from him on a chattel mortgage on the furniture in her house. She exhibited a 
letter purporting to be signed by her husband, Richard K." Peck, saying that he would 
join her in executing the mortgage. The signature was witnessed by George P. 
Thomas. After lending the money Mr. Bissell discovered that Mrs. Peck, under the 
name of Mrs. Knight, had, on August 28, obtained $650 on the same furniture from 
Horatio W. P. Hodson, a lawyer, of No. 132 Nassau Street. Mr. Bissell foreclosed 
the mortgage on November 4. Then Mr. Peck, who is a member of the iron firm of 
Peck, Howard & Co., of Nos. 73 and 75 West Street, pronounced the letter a forgery 
and claimed the furniture as his own. 

Mrs. Peck looked pale and anxious when she was arraigned for sentence on June 
2, 1885, before Judge Van Brunt for having forged a bond upon a mortgage by which 
she obtained $3,000 from the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York City, the 
Assistant District Attorney, instead of moving for the sentence informed the Judge 
that it was the opinion of the District Attorney that the ends of justice would be 
better subserved by granting Mrs. Peck a new trial. 

A gleam of joy shot across the face of the prisoner and the color rose to her 
cheeks when she heard the motion, but paled again when the lawyer continued that the 
punishment which could be inflicted under the present conviction would not be 
sufficient for the offense committed. 

Mr. Henry Meyenberg, counsel for Mrs. Peck, urged that a second trial of the 
case be delayed as long as possible, asserting that his client would change the plea on 
which she had been convicted and would plead insanity at the new trial. "Since the 
last trial," said the counsel, " I have learned that Mrs. Peck's father committed suicide, 
and that five years ago she was an inmate of an insane asylum." 

After flirting for years with justice, the confidence woman received her -first 
punishment in New York City on October 6, 1885, in the form of a four and a half 
years' sentence. Mrs. Peck is not a prepossessing looking woman, and as she was 
brought to the bar of the Court of Oyer and Terminer her masculine-looking face was 
divested of every vestige of color. Without displaying any outward sign of feeling she 
clutched the railing before Judge Van Brunt and cast her eyes on the floor. Her 
counsel asked the court to take into consideration her long imprisonment in the Tombs 
in passing sentence. 

Addressing the prisoner. Judge Van Brunt said that there were a number of 
indictments against her, but that the District Attorney felt that no good results could 
be attained by pressing them. In passing sentence he took into consideration her long 
imprisonment, but felt it was the duty of the court to impose the highest penalty. Her 
sentence, therefore, would be four and a half years in the penitentiary. Mrs. Peck's 
head fell lower when she heard the sentence, and she turned from the bar without a 
word. She had gone only a few feet when she tottered and was about to fall, but 
a young man, her son, sprang from one of the seats and caught her in his arms. 



PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 32 1 

Supported by him and followed by the Deputy Sheriff, she went sobbing convulsively 
from the court room. 

The crime for which Mrs. Peck was convicted was for forging a bond given with a 
mortgage on a house owned by her husband in Brooklyn, by which she obtained $3,000 
from the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. An ex-convict, who was a 
witness in the case, personated her husband and received the money. 

Mrs. Peck, who is about fifty years of age, is now in the penitentiary on Blackwell's 
Island, New York. 

Julius Columbani, a forger and negotiator of stolen bonds, was arrested in New 
York City and sentenced to three years and six months in Sing Sing prison for forgery 
in the third degree, on October 10, 1878, on complaint of Courtland St. John, of No. 20 
Cedar Street, New York City. His time expired there on June 10, 1881. Below will 
be found full particulars of his last arrest and conviction : 

Mrs. E. Peck, whose acquaintance was very costly to Mr. B. T. Babbitt, the soap 
manufacturer, John D. Grady and others, was once more brought before the public, 
and in the somewhat unexpected r6le of an aid to the police authorities. On 
Sunday, September 10, 1882, Edward and Owen McSorley, brothers, who have a home- 
stead at West Brighton, Staten Island, went out driving, leaving their place in the care 
of Bryan Norton, a credulous old man. An hour later a polite young man went to the 
house and told Norton that his masters' carriage had broken down a mile away, and 
that he had been sent by them to tell him to go to their aid with a wrench and some 
rope. The old man started off as fast as he could, but slackened his speed when the polite 
young man told him not to hurry. When the McSorleys returned home Norton was 
absent and their safe had been broken open. Burglars had stolen ten one-thousand- 
dollar seven per cent. Richmond County bonds, three other bonds, and jewelry and 
money, amounting in all to $14,000 in value. In January of the following year the 
store of Higgins & Co., No. 7 Strawberry Street, Philadelphia, was robbed of property 
worth $7,000, and E. Jacques and his wife were arrested for the crime in Philadelphia, 
and an accomplice, Tom Gardiner, was caught in this city. In Gardiner's possession 
was found some of the jewelry stolen from the McSorleys, but he was taken to Phila- 
delphia, and he, with Jacques, sentenced to five years' imprisonment for the Higgins 
robbery. The bonds stolen from West Brighton were kept out of the market, as 
honest negotiators had been properly warned. On April 25, 1884, however, Mrs. Peck 
helped the police to recover some of them. 

According to Mrs. Peck's story, a lady who was visiting her advertised on the 13th 
of April, 1884, for the loan of $5,000 on a large quantity of diamonds. Mrs. Peck's 
antecedents have caused it to be surmised that she was the advertiser herself, and that the 
advertisement was to pave the way to one of her peculiar business transactions. Mrs. 
Peck says that two days later she received a letter, in which were instructions how to rec- 
ognize at the Astor House a man who might negotiate with her. The letter was written 
by Julius Columbani, an old criminal, whose specialties are negotiating stolen securities 
and altering them. He had been in State prison, and was identified at one time with 
some real estate swindlers. Mrs. Peck did not, until April 25, discover who he was, if 



32 2 PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS OF AMERICA. 

her story is to be believed. She said that as she was a business woman she would not 
permit her lady friend, who is uninitiated, to carry out the transaction with her corre- 
spondent of the Astor House, New York, and so met him herself. They walked into 
Vesey Street and talked about the loan. He said he could not let her have the money, 
as his capital was tied up, but he would place in her hands ten seven per cent. Rich- 
mond County bonds of $i,ooo each, to be considered as equivalent to $5,000. They 
parted to meet four days later. Mrs. Peck went to a Broad Street broker immediately 
to ask about Richmond County bonds. She was told that they were at par, but 
cautioned, as some had been stolen, and she received the numbers of those taken from 
the McSorley homestead. 

Meeting Columbani at the Astor House on the 19th of April, 1884, Mrs. Peck 
walked to Barclay Street with him, and then taxed him with